Pretoria electricity woes continue
Areas such as Waparand, Olympus, Garsfontein and Faerie Glen have been in the dark on “every other day”, in the past two weeks.
Parts of Pretoria east have been struggling with intermittent power outages for the past week, with Friday being no different.
Areas such as Waparand, Olympus, Garsfontein and Faerie Glen have been in the dark on “every other day”, in the past two weeks.
But this was not a new problem, according to Olympus resident Dylan Max.
“For years, we have been putting up with this and it gets worse by the day,” Max said.
“On some days, the electricity is only out for a few hours, on other days it would be the entire day. We would be lucky to have a full day where the electricity does not go off.
“It’s really frustrating because we do not know where to go for answers.”
On Friday, many parts of Pretoria were in the dark following various electricity outages.
Parts of Olympus and Fearie Glen were in the dark for most of the day, after the Koedoeberg substation experienced an outage. Electricity was restored later that evening, only after 21:00.
READ MORE: Parts of east still without power
Garsfontein residents were only reconnected after midnight after repairs were done to a damaged cable.
The Waltloo depot also experienced various electricity outages on the same day, leaving residents of Mamelodi, Eesterust and Nellmapius without power.
Former ward 101 councillor Mike Strange said with the metro being under administration, it was hard for him to get answers to his community.
“I am not a councillor at the moment, but continue to act on behalf of the people who elected me in 2016,” he said.
Strange said some trips were caused by overloads, while others were caused by trees falling on electricity lines.
“Another outage was reported in Mooiplaats [on Friday], caused by a tree that fell on the R104 road near the Pienaars river bridge,” he said.
“The tree damaged overhead cables on the Tshwane-Donkerhoek rural line.”
Previously, utility services MMC Daryl Moss said ageing infrastructure, cable theft, vandalism and a maintenance backlog contributed to the power problems.
READ MORE: Residents fight over electricity
Recently, a cable was stolen in Moreleta Park, causing a power outage.
Resident Jackie Botha said that cable theft had been a problem for years.
“To date, there have been no viable solutions on the matter of cable theft in Pretoria east,” she said.
DA mayor candidate Randall Williams said the outages were a sign of poor service delivery.
He said the party had consulted with officials in each of the affected service delivery regions and have been informed that there were more than 200 outages throughout the city lately.
“Furthermore, the DA has learnt that in some regions there are only two teams to assist the entire region consisting of up to 30 wards during this time of crisis,” he said.
“We have also learnt that up to five electricity depots have been closed down due to a Covid-19 threat, which is hampering the rollout of services even more.”
Williams called on the administrators to come forward and provide residents with full details of the electricity crisis and what plans were being put in place to solve it.
The Tshwane metro did respond for comment at the time of going to press.
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