In the dark at Easter
While power was restored to a number of areas within this time frame, it was not restored everywhere.
ELECTRICITY disruptions, water shortages and no cellphone reception were not a welcome start to the Easter Weekend for many visitors to the Elephant Coast.
Last Wednesday saw Mtubatuba and surrounding areas without electricity for 12 hours due to scheduled maintenance work in the area, as well as major upgrades in Umfolozi.
Residents in the affected areas were pre-warned and had time to prepare for the planned power outage, but no one was prepared for the associated problems.
Eskom spokesperson, Preshanth Luxman, confirmed that the planned power outage, from 6am to 6pm on Wednesday 16 April went ahead and all required maintenance work was carried out. He said the scheduled 12-hour outage overran due to excessive rainfall but that power was restored to the affected areas by 8.30pm on Wednesday night.
While power was restored to a number of areas within this time frame, it was not restored everywhere.
KwaMbonambi residents were still affected at midday on Thursday and by mid-afternoon, St Lucia residents were still in the dark.
Tracy Coertse, a KwaMbonambi resident and reptile breeder, contacted the Zululand Observer after 30 hours with no electricity and no answers from Eskom.
As her reptiles have to be kept in a temperature-controlled environment, it became necessary for her to transport them to Richards Bay for the duration of the power outage overrun.
As St Lucia relies on its water to be pumped via electronic pumps from Mtubatuba, the town’s residents found themselves without water from about 8pm on Wednesday night. The water shortage went on for well over 12 hours during which time residents and visitors for the Easter Weekend were unable to shower, flush toilets or wash hands.
While Eskom call centres were unable to provide answers to the public, the company’s workers were seen attending to electricity lines on the R618 between St Lucia and Mtubatuba in the vicinity of 121 Battalion.
There, the Eskom employee who travels around KZN attending to electrical faults explained the problem.
Because the area affected by the scheduled power outage was so large, when electricity was restored, a number of ‘jumpers’ burnt out.
Jumpers, or crimpers, allow electricity travelling through a power line to ‘jump’ to the next line when it reaches a pole.
Each jumper is effectively a join in the power line and, therefore, a weak area in the system.
St Lucia’s frequent water shortages are a cause for major concern, coming to the fore on a regular basis.
As shown during this electricity outage, the service delivery of water to the town is not reliant only on functioning water infrastructure.
