Dark days for Gandhinagar community
Just before 3pm that day, residents were informed by Eskom via Twitter, that vandalism at the substation has resulted in the extended power outage.
Umzinto residents, particularly those in Gandhinagar supplied with electricity from the Eskom substation on Temple Road, have gone for days without any electricity due to cable theft.
Communities last Sunday were initially under the impression that they were dealing with the normal infamous load shedding from about 10am.
When the power failed to return hours later, concerns grew.
Just before 3pm that day, residents were informed by Eskom via Twitter, that vandalism at the substation has resulted in the extended power outage.
The tweet went on to state there was no estimated time of restoration and that customers ‘are urged to treat all installations as live’.
Eskom’s substation on Temple Road has been vandalised numerous times in the past resulting in long power outages.
Around this time of year back in 2019, a cable thief attempted to steal power cables from the substation, but died after being electrocuted.
It caused a blackout in most parts of Umzinto for hours.
Aside from the vandalism at the substation, Umzinto also faces similar electricity matters regularly because of the many illegal electricity connections made by those in informal settlements.
This recent power outage has been one of the longest outages endured in a long time.
Residents are not only suffering with no means to charge electronics, they also cannot heat up food, make use of fans or air conditioners to keep cool during the heat and have lost a substantial amount of money because they’ve been forced to throw away food which has spoilt.
Students who study online are also affected and have to face challenges with regards to their education because of this outage.
“After matriculating last year, I decided to study from home this year until the Covid-19 vaccines roll out and it’s safer to travel,” said a Gandhinagar resident.
“This power outage is affecting me because I scheduled an amount of time to spend on my studies each day and now I can’t use my computer and access my work because of the inconvenience caused by the cable theft.”
As if having no electricity wasn’t bad enough, residents then had their water supply cut off.
Gandhinagar community activist, Ash Moodley, has reached out to Eskom several times in hopes of getting the power restored soon to prevent further losses and from the matters already being faced escalating.
“It’s really sad that hundreds of people will have to suffer in so many ways because of this power outage,” he said.
“I have requested claim forms from Eskom for those who have incurred losses such as from throwing away food because communities will soon be starving as a result of this situation and Eskom needs to bring relief.”
Mr Moodley went on to add that he personally believes that this wasn’t cable theft and that it was planned.
“In my opinion it looks like planned maintenance that is titled as cable theft so people don’t get compensated.”
At the time of going to print, the community was on day three of having no water and electricity.
Eskom was contacted for comment on the matter but none had been received.
There is still no specific restoration time, but some sources have stated that senior officials are on site and power might be restored by Thursday this week.
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