Govan Mbeki Municipality repairs electricity pole in eMbalenhle
Residents are thankful that the danger has been removed.
Residents of Ext 18 thanked the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) for repairing a dangerously leaning electricity pole that was left unattended for months.
The hazard caused an incident on November 28, when a high-current cable sagging across the roofs of several shacks caught fire and almost set some of them alight.
A contractor installing smart meters accidentally damaged the pole.
Residents say the pole collapsed while one of the contractor’s workers was on a ladder attending to a meter box. The worker escaped unharmed, but the pole just missed the roof of a nearby RDP house.
A resident, Mduduzi Mahlangu, whose shack was almost destroyed during the cable fire, said he will now sleep because the pole has been replaced.
“I was lucky. When the cable started burning, I wasn’t in the shack. I was at my neighbour’s place when we saw the fire on my roof.
“Since the incident, it has been difficult to sleep at night, not knowing when a disaster is going to strike. We appreciate the efforts by our municipality, though it took them almost eight months to replace the pole,” said Mahlangu.
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