Germiston residents left in the dark again for days on end
and Cllr Alta de Beer — DA Ward Councillor in Ekurhuleni
Date: 07 October 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Press Statement
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni is appalled by the ANC Coalition’s* inability to manage power supply in the City of Ekurhuleni (CoE).
Once again, Germiston residents have been left without power for over five days.
Residents have had no power since Saturday, 02 October 2021, after a hailstorm hit the area. This incident has been reported every single day since Saturday. Numerous calls have been logged and escalated to the Department of Energy, yet, to date, the power has not been restored.
Residents are furious because of the lack of feedback from Ekurhuleni officials. Officials have only confirmed that they are aware of the outage and backlog, but no update has been given on when the backlog will be dealt with.
It is absolutely ridiculous that residents must endure unexplained power outages for extended periods of time, without any meaningful communication and feedback from the delegated officials and the Energy Department. Residents have expressed their frustration and disappointment with the CoE at the lack of urgency in dealing with this outage.
These incessant power outages are disruptive for residents and businesses, and the ANC and its coalition partners do not seem to care. It is completely unacceptable that residents are left in the dark, while many of them are working from home. Residents with babies, small children and the elderly are left desperate during this time.
The CoE has a Service Level Standard that customers can expect from them. While this level of service must be applied consistently across the City, it seems the ANC and its coalition partners are disinterested in abiding by the standard.
According to the Service Level Standard, the turnaround time for electrical outages is 24 hours, as indicated below. However, this is seldomly, if ever achieved.
The DA is calling for the City Manager, Dr. Imogen Mashazi, to urgently intervene and allocate extra resources to accelerate this pressing matter. We are also urging the City Manager to recall all staff members that are still on rotational work schedules back to work. Officials, particularly those in the Energy Department, are needed back at work to deal with electricity and faulty street light backlogs. The City of Ekurhuleni cannot afford to have staff members sitting at home while service delivery suffers.
The dismal failure to deliver basic services highlights the incompetence of the ANC and its coalition partners. The residents of Ekurhuleni deserve a well-run government that delivers basic services. A DA-run Ekurhuleni will get the basics right by ensuring effective and responsive service delivery by enhancing access to reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity.
#Time4Change
*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Cllr. Alta de Beer
DA Ward Councillor in Ekurhuleni
