The Mayor of Inkosi Langalibalele Local Municipality Councillor Jabu Mbele and a delegation from the municipality visited the Esigodlweni community in Ward 18 to handover the long-awaited electrification project.

The electrification of Esigodlweni commenced in 2009 with the appointment of Consultants Khanyisa Africa. The appointment was at risk and consultants were appointed to source funds for the project. The initial count of households in Esigodlweni at the time was pre-marketed at 751 connections; nevertheless 837 households were connected at completion.

The project faced many challenges and was delayed due to limited funds for the project completion and it was then handed over to Eskom for completion. In order to complete the project, Eskom did an evaluation of the project and signed the task order with the contractor for the completion of the project.

Eskom granted the outages and links to be connected and the outages and switching on was then planned. Over 10 houses received electrical appliances during a community meeting that was called by the Mayor and Ward Councillor as part of the handing over process.

Addressing the community, the Mayor said: “The municipality is very happy that this community finally has electricity. Electricity is essential to modern development and not just for our livelihoods. Having reliable electricity will also make our communities safer, as darkness will be history in this ward. Our children will be able to play till late without worrying about light.”

During that meeting the residents shared some of their concerns, disappointments and joy about the project. Among other things that were raised were concerns about families that did not get electricity due to cables being stolen, while others were overlooked during the process because their houses did not appear on the map, which was used to identify residents in this area.

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Some of the issues were addressed and resolved before the meeting ended. Mrs Mbele thanked the community for attending the meeting and urges all those who had grievances or complaints to liaise with the Ward Councillor.

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