City Power said they have awarded letters of appointment to all labour contracts and has complied with the court order.
Isaac Mangena, City Power spokesperson, said over the weekend City Power received various newspaper queries which were fuelled mainly by comments, speculations and assumptions made by some councillors of the DA who said the City of Johannesburg will be plunged into darkness as a result of City Power’s failure to conclude the appointment of labour contracts.
Left in the dark
On the other hand Crichton said the residents of Ward 56, and most of the southern suburbs, have been literally left in the dark for few days. “It started on October 30 when the power went off in Oakdene and Gleneagles North at around 8.55am. This was due to a breaker at the Mulbarton substation that exploded. After many complications, City Power managed to restore the power after it had been off for nearly 12 hours.
“On Saturday evening at around 8pm, the power went off in Mabel and Roux streets, Townsview, and was still off at 6.30pm the following evening, meaning the residents had been in the dark for over 22 hours. Properties in Plinlimmon Road, The Hill, went off at around 1am on Sunday morning when the pole, that City Power has been asked for months to fix, sparked, and then burst into flames.”
By 6.35pm that evening residents were still in darkness and had been without power for over 17 hours. Michael Street in Linmeyer went off around 8am on Sunday morning and by 6.40pm their power was still off. The power at Ben Alder Road, The Hill, went off just before noon and was still off at 6.50pm.
“When one looks at these examples and the fact that there were several other outages across the southern suburbs, you can see a genuinely concerning trend. City Power currently has had a shortage of contractors for some time now and as of November 1, they had no contractors at their disposal. This means that there isn’t an adequate amount of resources available to deal with the backlog of outages.
“This is most concerning as the residents must suffer the consequences of their food going off while many of them are still feeling the economic pinch that the Covid-19 pandemic created. This is not fair on the residents and requires intervention from the MMC and the mayor. I have submitted questions to Council regarding these power crises and will be interested to see their responses,” explained Crichton.
No lack of labour
Mangena said City Power has officially announced that all labour contract companies have received their letters of appointment and that some of them are already involved in the repair and replacement of the electricity network that was damaged by the storm over the weekend.
“For the purpose of a smooth on-boarding into City Power, the companies have been divided into mainly three categories. The first category of those who have already gone through training and orientation are already working.
“The second group is currently undergoing City Power orientation and training which includes health, safety and risk management. “The third group which has challenges with compliance matters has been given an opportunity to correct all their compliance issues before they can start working on City Power networks.
“We also want to correct an assumption that all companies are deployed onto the City Power’s electricity network at the same time. “This is far from the truth because they are all contracted on an ‘as and when’ basis which means they are used on a shift system as and when an emergency repair work is required on the electricity network. They supplement City Power teams on a shift system and work under the supervision of our depot management at all times.
“Please be advised that there are no crises of lack of labour contracts and that City Power has complied with the Court order which instructed us to contract all identified companies which have passed through the functionality evaluation process as determined by City Power and affirmed by the Court,” Mangena said.
