By Zanele Makola
The community of Nellmapius in the City of Tshwane has been without electricity for nearly two weeks. There was no formal notification to warn community members about the power outage, and no explanation was provided.
During those two weeks, the electricity would go off for more than 24 hours, then come back on for four hours before going out again. To make matters worse, the power outage began at the end of the month, when most residence had already bought their monthly groceries. Food went bad and had to be thrown away, while there is still no explanation from the municipality on the matter. “Having a power outage every day is incredibly frustrating. Does anyone have any idea what the issue is?” Eddie Maseko, a Nellmapius resident, enquired.
Mr Temage, the chairperson of Nellmapius, called on all community leaders to meet at the Customer Care office on 9 April in order to go to the municipal offices and find out what the problem is with the power outage. He emphasised that it is their responsibility as community leaders to represent the community’s interests whenever issues arise. Mr Temage disagrees with the remedies some community members have come up with to try solve the problem. “Out of frustration, people have resorted to burning tyres, which has caused potholes and damaged traffic lights. We understand, but that will not solve the matter; instead, it will create new difficulties,” he explained.
According to the most recent update, Nellmapius Ext. 1, Ext. 2, Bally Village, and part of Ext. 4 were all impacted by the outage. The loss of both main feeder cables on the same day — faulty main feeder cable number one from Waltloo Sub to Nellmapius Sub, and faulty main feeder cable number two from Waltloo Sub to Nellmapius Sub — caused the power outage.
Although electricity has not been officially restored, excavations have been done, materials have been delivered to site, and the operations team is busy with repairs. “The team is finalising the second join, and we are currently at 90% progress. I appreciate the community’s patience and apologise for the inconvenience. We will update community members once the work is complete,” said Kholofelo Kgopotso, Councillor of Nellmapius Ward 86.
