Ster received this statement from the Emfuleni Local Municipality’s Mayoral Office yesterday afternoon. We publish the statement unedited and will follow up to get more clarification on certain aspects:

Executive Mayor, Cllr Gift Moerane apologises unreservedly to communities of Vanderbijlpark who were left without electricity for almost over two weeks. This is after Vanderbijlpark substation caught fire on Tuesday, 12 March 2019 around 13h00.
“It was just within a day when I visited this site. Resolutions were immediately taken to treat this burnt substation occurrence as an emergency. It shouldn’t have been business as usual for the administration involved in this process to restore power back to our communities,” said Moerane.

Executive Mayor in further monitoring progress, he visited this site once again only to learn of disappointing decisions taken by some team members in adhering to his directive. The willingness to resolve this crisis amicably has taken him by shock.
As a contingency measure, we decided to hire a mobile generator. Whilst it’s expensive, we have no choice. The normal repair will take us to 29 March because of burnt parts, cables and other technical aspects.
“I have instructed the Municipal Manager to launch an investigation into this matter. I need answers. I suspect an act of insubordination and consequence management should kick in where my suspicions are proven to be correct,” added Executive Mayor.
Overall the Executive Mayor appreciates assistance from our neighboring Municipalities in resolving the issues through Intergovernmental relations structure.
“Our communities and students who are studying cannot be suffering whilst we have technocrats who should be taking service delivery as their core mandate,” concluded the Executive Mayor.
The Executive Mayor wishes to thank all affected communities for the level of tolerance employed during this period of frustrations. We apologise to many of you who gathered at the substation with frustration. We appeal that you allow the technicians on site to complete their work. The Executive- Mayor is aware that the community deserves better.
Executive Mayor wishes to have both internal and external stakeholders contributing towards Rebranding of Emfuleni as the People’s City that is responsive to the needs of our communities.

Media release issued by Lebo Mofokeng of the Mayor Office.