Light at last for Marburg residents

The installation of fibre cables along the South Coast has become a frustrating thing for many due to the interruptions caused in the process.

Residents of Hibiscus Drive in Marburg have again been afflicted by electricity outages due to nicked underground cables.

Last week, and the week prior to, residents went up to three consecutive days without electricity.

Meanwhile, homes in Wimpey Crescent were left in the dark for five days.

Residents along the coast have experienced similar issues in their areas, whether it be regarding water, electricity and sometimes both.

The main gripes for Hibiscus Drive residents is that they were not properly informed and countless costs due to damages were incurred.

Ward 17 councillor, Ajith Rajaram joined residents on June 9 during the power outage to see that the issue was resolved as soon as possible.

A further delay was caused as Eskom was awaiting the arrival of a machine from Pietermaritzburg.

Contractors and Eskom electricians were eventually on site and began testing for the fault.

Residents gathered and expressed their concerns and dissatisfaction to a Herald reporter who also visited the area.

They said that large amounts of food was thrown out having gone bad while other residents lost appliances due to the electricity constantly tripping.

“My mother is bedridden and it is so difficult to tend to her in darkness. Some of us have medication that needs to be refrigerated and those are going bad, too,” said an upset resident.

While some residents could get by with gas stoves, pensioners and lower income houses in the area did not have access to such.

In other homes further down the road, school children were forced to study in conditions that were less than ideal.

According to Cllr Rajaram, a male resident fell and broke his hip due to him being unable to see during the outage.

“What we cannot accept is the inconvenience that has been caused,” residents said.

That same week, residents said the fault was reported four times to Eskom and that they were left on hold for hours.

Cllr Rajaram said they have been inundated with calls regarding damaged driveways and electricity or water issues.

“We need to be properly informed well before projects like this begin so that we can inform our residents. Had we been told, we could have sat with leadership and discussed previous issues and grievances to stop it from happening again,” he added.

Thankfully, electricity was restored later that night (June 9th) though questions remain as to who will reimburse residents for all that was lost.

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