Anger at long blackouts across Pretoria
· Citizen
Residents and councillors are in the dark about the power situation in parts of Pretoria, with some residents not having electricity for almost a week.
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DA Tshwane caucus spokesperson Jacqui Uys said the power situation in the Wapadrand supply area, where she is a councillor, is untenable.
‘Faults on the cable network’
There have also been prolonged outages in other parts, including Farm Road, Cura Avenue and Drakenstein Crescent this month.
“These outages are occurring due to faults on the cable network. When the DA was in government, we planned for these abnormalities to be fixed before the new substation was commissioned, because we knew that the cable network, if not up to specifications and abnormal-free, would continue to trip,” Uys said.
“The DA has continued to advocate for the repair of abnormalities across the city since being removed from office in almost every council meeting and in every budget vote.
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Infrastructure faults blamed for power cuts
“We have written to the National Energy Regulator of SA about the state of the Tshwane electricity network and are busy with a Nersa complaint as the mayor and her team are not committed to resolving these issues,” Uys added.
Uys said Pretoria East has had many extended power outages and while teams worked late to get power on in those areas, they did not get paid overtime, so they took time off in lieu of pay.
A municipal worker who agreed to speak anonymously said repair work takes a long time due to the overtime policy.
“That infrastructure is giving in like this is clearly an indication of years of failure to do proper maintenance,” the worker said.
“Similarly, the overdevelopment of areas also contributes to the deterioration of infrastructure and illegal connections to the infrastructure contribute to the deterioration.”
Security risk fears
The worker said the city would not admit it, but the strict overtime regulations, requested by the city manager, have a negative impact on service delivery.
In Rietfontein in the Pretoria Moot area, resident Pieter Fourie has been without power for 89 hours.
“The councillors escalate at Tshwane, but nothing happens. Tshwane says it’s not an area or block outage, so we don’t even know what’s going on,” he said.
“It’s pitch dark at night because most street lights don’t work, so it’s a big security risk.”
Villieria resident Paul Bester said the power has been off since last week.
MMC for utility services Frans Boshielo said critical repairs at Waltloo substation have been completed and power will be restored as soon as testing has concluded.
The city has not replied to a request for comment.
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