Witpoortjie voiceless in power struggle

Anyone living in Witpoortjie will experience feelings of nostalgia when talking about the days when electricity came without interruption, frustration and excuses.

Over the past few years rate-paying residents have grown accustomed to a perpetual loop of unexpected electricity interruptions. These interruptions usually come without warning and on average can last from an hour up to a few days.

According to local resident Carike Weber – who’s representing thousands of powerless residents – these interruptions occur on average at least three times a week.

“The people living in this community aren’t all necessarily upper class. So, can you imagine all the monies lost on meat and other fresh products that are supposed to refrigerated? You can’t buy or plan ahead as you never know whether your food will see the end of the week due to the recurring interruptions,” she said.

Carike and her daughter each run their own small business from their Witpoortjie home, and according to both it has never been this challenging to keep their businesses afloat.

“We do have a small battery that can only be used to run a few items. Otherwise we have to use our generator, which we are very fortunate to have, but this has also become very expensive. It costs us double the amount of what we would have spent on normal electricity. Many days I have to send my employees home due to these interruptions. They also have families and responsibilities,” she said.

Even though Carike is aware of the South Road cable theft which is the main reason for the outages, she feels that not enough is being done to prevent it from happening.

“Our power infrastructure isn’t being looked after properly. I also think it’s very unfair – we pay for our electricity but we get penalised for it. We are the ones who suffer. These interruptions have a direct effect on our businesses, livelihoods and those for whom we are creating jobs,” she said.

It’s also no secret that the area and its surrounds have become rife with illegal connections, which put additional strain on an already overburdened power system. This together with cable theft and substations that seem to catch fire and explode regularly have left the whole of Witpoortjie in dire straits.

“It’s not only us in Witpoortjie – many businesses and employees operate from home and suffer because of this. We just can’t go on like this. We are tired and we are desperate.”

It is also considered a huge safety risk as their vehicles were broken into not long ago during a power outage when their yard lights and CCTV cameras were off.

Carike has been reporting each interruption to various officials over the years, but her pleas – seemingly along with the rest of Witpoortjie – continue to fall on deaf ears.

Ward councillor René Benjamin and City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena have been contacted for comment on the matter.