eMbalenhle residents see no change in power crisis
'We thought the arrival of the transformer will bring change to our day-to-day municipality load-shedding.'
Residents in eMbalenhle claim nothing has changed since the arrival of a mobile transformer.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality’s technical yard is always being visited by residents who demand electricity and employees always live in fear.
Recently, the community of Ext 22 locked the technical yard gate, demanding electricity.
They claimed to have been without electricity for two weeks.
The executive mayor, Mr Nhlakanipho Zuma, switched on the Bracken electricity supply for Extensions 9,12 and 4 in the past weeks.
The mayor told councillors that they will only switch on two lines because the ring 3 panels will only be delivered in August.
“We thought the arrival of the transformer will bring change to our day-to-day municipal load-shedding, but it has gone from bad to worse,” said Mr Lazarus Mnguni.
“To live without electricity for weeks is like having no electricity at all, meat rots in the fridge and we need to be warm in this freezing weather. It took the municipality three years to complete Bracken project,” he said.
Mr Donald Green, acting head of communication for the municipality, appealed to the community to be patient.
He said they commissioned the first 10MVA from the Bracken mobile transformer and they are in the process of commissioning another 10MVA.
Mr green said due to the past weeks’ protests in the country, many shops were closed and it was difficult to get the required equipment.
“Due to the cold, our substations are under serious strain. We are appealing to our community to use electricity sparingly.
“Residents will be notified on when are we going to commission another 10MVA from Bracken to eMbalenhle,” said Mr Green.
