Relief as some areas in Centurion have power restored
Councillors and resident representatives met to discuss strategies to deal with the outages.
Power in Wierdapark and parts of Eldoraigne was finally restored in the early hours of Friday morning after residents there struggled without power since Saturday July 29.
Residents woke up to power after a fault in a single cable was repaired at 03:00 in the morning.
The area had previously been placed on an informal rotational power supply as a cable fault limited the areas that could be energized.
Ward 70 councillor Marika Kruger Muller told Rekord that this was done in order to give residents at least some time with power.
The fault repair was further hampered by limited personnel amid ongoing municipal worker strikes.
Kruger Muller was at the site where a single cable fault had affected Wierdapark and parts of Eldoraigne.
Limited city personnel and a private contractor worked on the fault while local security companies assisted to keep the site safe.
RESIDENTS, COUNCILLORS MEET OVER POWER
During the fault repair, a meeting between councillors and representatives from community organisations took place to discuss a way forward.
“We discussed strategies to plan should this happen again,” said Kruger Muller.
Residents have been frustrated during the week, with some complaining that they were not receiving clear communication about the matter.
“We hoped that the estates and the residents’ associations working together to share one message would be very helpful,” said Kruger Muller.
The councillor said that she appreciated the support from residents and representatives during the challenging time.
“I do want to mention Scorpion and MonitorNet for their assistance who were there to ensure our safety straight through the night.”
Chairperson of the Wierdapark Residents Association (WPRA), Liza Vorster, thanked the ward 70 councillor for initiating the engagement.
“We further thank the ward councillor for her commitment […] to ensure the electricity was restored to all customers affected.”
“This meeting was extremely necessary and resulted in a positive engagement where the metro can take hands with the community to address strategies in resolving the matter at hand,” she said.
She said that future strategies to manage large-scale events such as was experienced for the past two weeks would be easier.
“It was agreed that active and clear communication between the metro and the residents will in future be applied to mitigate the risks of any unnecessary frustrations or protest action among residents in these situations.”
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