eMBALENHLE – Locals are still without electricity after the substation at extension 5 exploded and caught fire on Wednesday, 3 October.
It is believed that it was caused by overloading.
It is still uncertain when the electricity will be restored.
The last update on the matter by the Govan Mbeki Municipality was posted on their Facebook page on Friday, 5 October at 15:18pm.
The Facebook post said : “Govan Mbeki Municipality is attending to the electricity challenge in eMbalenhle.
“Electricians have managed to identify the fault and removed the partly damaged panels in the substation.
“The municipality is working around the clock to restore electricity. Residents will be updated on the progress.”
The Sakhisizwe Progressive Movement (Sapromo) have put the blame on Ms Thandi Ngxonono, executive mayor, and said she is incompetent.
Mr Sibusiso Hlolweni, President of Sapromo, said:
“It is sad that the community is suffering the consequences of bad leadership under the guidance of the incompetent mayorship of Ms Thandi Ngxonono.
“It is not surprising that the substation exploded.
“All substations are safety hazards to residents and the workers who work in the electricity department at the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
“Sapromo has always been saying that the delay to speed up the process of the Bracken Mine substation will lead to many problems.
“It is not the first time that the community of eMbalenhle faces overwhelming service delivery challenges and it is no longer funny.
“The first few days of Ms Ngxonono as mayor were followed by almost two weeks of water crisis and now it is electricity.
“Her leadership will seriously lead the municipality in complete service delivery backlash.
“If she is not removed from office we will have the municipality turning into a war zone.
“After all we hope that the technicians temporarily fix the situation very soon, as we speed up the process of removing miss Ngxonono from office.
“Her removal will perhaps even speed up the process of taking electricity back to Eskom.”
The Economic Freedom Fighters said this proves that service delivery is not a priority in the ANC led municipality.
The party said it is ironic that the municipal technicians did not foresee this problem which makes their competency questionable.
The EFF said the repairs were delayed because some senior officials wanted to give their friend the tender to repair the substation.
Also read:
https://www.citizen.co.za/ridge-times/125590/power-outages-locals-might-not-electricity-time-embalenhle/
