A Pretoria east resident has questioned the Tshwane metro’s claim that its overtime management policy is not affecting service delivery after a prolonged electricity outage left several communities without power for much of the day recently.

Henk van Heerden said his experience during a recent outage paints a different picture from the one presented by the metro.
The metro recently assured residents that emergency responses and major electricity faults continue to be attended to despite measures aimed at reducing overtime expenditure.

Van Heerden’s comments come after Rekord reported on concerns raised by Ward 47 councillor Lida Erasmus regarding new overtime rules and their impact on electricity fault responses, particularly on weekends.

Van Heerden said residents were left frustrated by what they perceived as a delayed response to a major power failure affecting multiple areas.

“The statement that ‘the overtime policy is not affecting service delivery’ is not true,” said Van Heerden.

“Although this was reported by most households and escalated by area representatives, nothing was done.”

He alleged that there were no staff available to respond to the emergency after hours.

“Apparently there is nobody after 20:00 to call people out in such an emergency,” he said.

According to Van Heerden, the outage was only attended to at about 08:30 the following morning.

He said technicians later determined that the problem was linked to a major trip at the Wingate substation.

“The problem was identified around 12:00 as a major trip at Wingate substation due to two faulty cables,” he explained.

According to Van Heerden, residents then had to wait several more hours before power was restored.

He said 15 hours later, the areas affected by the trip were back online only to go down again at 17:00.

Van Heerden added that most affected communities only had their electricity supply restored at around 21:00.

“The incident demonstrates that the metro’s overtime management measures are having a direct impact on service delivery.”

Van Heerden also expressed frustration with the metro’s current administration, arguing that residents are seeing a decline in service levels.

His criticism follows assurances from the metro that its overtime controls are intended to curb expenditure while ensuring critical services remain operational.

Mayoral spokesperson Samkelo Mgobozi recently told Rekord that although the metro has implemented stricter overtime management measures, particularly on Sundays when overtime rates are higher, emergency responses and major outages continue to receive priority attention.

“However, residents should be assured that these measures do not prevent the city from responding to emergencies or incidents affecting critical infrastructure and essential services.”

Mgobozi said the metro differentiates between single-customer outages and incidents that require an emergency response.

According to Mgobozi, a single outage generally affects one property or a limited number of customers, while emergency responses are prioritised when outages affect critical facilities, public safety, or large sections of the network.

“Exceptions are made for power failures affecting hospitals, clinics, and other critical facilities,” said Mgobozi.

“In addition, major outages affecting communities, neighbourhoods or sections of the network continue to receive the necessary operational response, including after hours and over weekends.”

He also rejected suggestions that the overtime policy has negatively affected response times.

According to Mgobozi, the metro has not experienced a material impact on service delivery response times as a result of the overtime arrangements.

He added that major outages and area-wide faults continue to be attended to around the clock to minimise inconvenience to residents and restore supply as quickly as possible.

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