Vandalism leads to major power outage, says ward councillor
Major sections of the power station were stripped of parts by vandals.
A MAJOR power outage over the weekend has affected areas that include Doonside, Doonheights, Winklespruit, Illovo Beach, Panorama Park, Lovu, Kingsburgh West and Felekisi.
ALSO READ: Load Shedding … the good type!
According to Ward 97 councillor, André Beetge, this was a result of vandalism at the Doonside power station where major sections were stripped of parts. He noted that it looked as if the damage was done by people who knew what they were doing.
“Weather permitting, technicians will continue into the night in their quest to get a temporary tower functioning soon. Community patrollers and local security operations have committed to supply additional support while officials focus on the job at hand. Where it was possible, power was looped through local sub stations, but this is unfortunately not possible to all areas, as some are fed directly from the distribution centre,” he said.
Some residents have seemingly taken out their frustration on Beetge while other officials and have been targeted on social media.
“Neither the officials nor myself were responsible for the vandalism. Swearing, threatening or hurling abusive language at us will also not succeed in getting anything done faster. We will not, as some are insisting, be supplying hourly updates as it should already be clear that this is an extremely dangerous and time consuming repair. It also deprives personnel from attending other requests, such as single dwelling outages.”
Work to fully restore the power to the affected areas is ongoing and more updates will follow.
DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics. To receive news links via WhatsApp or Telegram, send an invite to 061 694 6047.
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram– why not join us there?
Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)
