Violence, intimidation as Tshwane metro teams work on resolving power outages
Some areas may take longer to have their electricity restored because of the strike and cable theft.
Tshwane metro technicians were working on restoring power to areas hit by prolonged outages because of a recent strike by metro employees.
“From 23:00 on Wednesday, various teams started going out to attend to service interruptions,” said metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba on Thursday.
Their work was, however, being hampered by striking workers who prevented them from doing their jobs.
At least four regions were affected by the illegal strike that started on Tuesday, March 15, over an alleged wage dispute.
Bokaba said the metro has enlisted the services of law enforcement to escort their teams to attend to the service interruptions to clear the backlog caused by the strike.
Power has already been restored to most of the areas in region 3, which includes Kwaggasrand, Westpark, Saulsville, Danville and Westview.
Electricity was also restored in Laudium and parts of Valhalla and Erasmia.
Areas such as Rua Vista, Thatchfield and a part of The Reeds and Olievenhoutbosch had their power restored last night, but it went off again due to cable theft.
Efforts were underway to replace the stolen cables.
Despite threats and intimidation, metro officials worked on restoring power to region 7 as well as the Zithobeni extensions and the Bronkhorstspruit wastewater treatment plant on Wednesday night.
Law enforcement was also poised to protect teams set to go to certain parts of region 6, particularly where prolonged outages were experienced.
“We are attending to all reported electricity outages throughout the municipality. Personnel, however, continues to face disruptions and intimidation by illegally striking workers.”
According to Bokaba, some areas may take longer to have their electricity restored because of the situation.
He appealed to residents to continue to log complaints via their customer care channels.
Residents should escalate the outage to their ward councillors – with a City of Tshwane reference number – if their outage was extended.
The ward councillor would then refer it to the regional electricity team.
“We apologise for this inconvenience and hope to restore full services as soon as possible,” Bokaba said.
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