Residents in the Laudium, Erasmia, Claudius and Itireleng area are once more faced with power outages, but this time the outages started on Monday evening and the problem is expected to only be fixed by the weekend.
The outages have severely affected residents in the area who just recently faced a serious water cut for days and have had a series of both water cuts and electricity outages over the past few months. The current outage started after certain panels at the Claudius electricity substation on the corner of Cuprene Str and 5th Ave in Laudium, caught on fire on Monday evening, resulting in the damage of the current transformer. The substation has another four non-functional transformers that have been standing un-used for years, awaiting repairs, despite these transformers meant to be used as back-ups, in cases of emergency which is the case now. The Council, over these years, has clearly not
spent much money on infrastructure repairs and maintenance which has now resulted in the community being without electricity for many days. In fact even Tshwane Mayor, Nasiphi Moya, who visited the site on Wednesday (Dec 4) attributed the current power failure to the “lack of maintenance” by the Council over the past many years. She stressed that lack of funding was a serious challenge for the Council, to the point that they did not have sufficient funds to install security equipment such as CCTV cameras, alarms, armed guards, etc, in key places, such as the substation and the Laudium Reservoir, which have been subjected to theft and vandalism many times. So, as residents once more pay for the negligence of past politicians, residents and also businesses are suffering huge financial losses, not forgetting the inconvenience caused.
Comments
Arman Hussain (25), owner of Al-Aman Butchery, on 19th Avenue, said, “This blackout is affecting my business badly because I sell frozen items which requires me to have freezers on all the time. I’m very hurt due to the fact that I don’t have a generator, as it is very expensive and II thought that loadshedding was over. Besides, a generator requires maintenance and it uses diesel or petrol, that’s a lot of money for me. I’m just a teenager trying to fend for myself. This is not the first time that the electricity has gone off in Laudium. Recently I lost a huge amount of meat due to electricity going off. It seems like this time I’m going to lose more as the blackout is expected to last for a week.”
Abbas Patel (32) owner of A1 Fruit and Veg in the Laudium CBD, added, “We are using a generator and it is very costly, because we rely on petrol, although it is also helpful in this situation. At this point it is better to use a generator as an alternative than watching my business and stock go down the drain. I store most of my fruits inside refrigerators, to keep them fresh and appetizing for my customers. At this point, we don’t know when this electricity is going to come back. The way electricity issues arise in Laudium one has to think about having a change of location.”
Alick Lasabu, a shopkeeper at Liberty Cellphone, at the Laudium Plaza said, “Our business is badly affected due to the lack of electricity, because our shop also assists with fixing phones. Some of our customers require us to fix their phone screens, therefore it gives us the challenge to properly do so. How do I deal with customers who come with their phones off now? How do I check if I indeed fixed their phone properly? We do not have a generator in our shop and cannot even use our office equipment, therefore it forces us to tell our customers to come back when the electricity comes back, and we do not know when it will come back.”
Collins Peniel (28) of Bengal Street, added, “As a resident, I feel overwhelmed that there is no electricity. I cannot do my normal routine due to this. I can’t even charge my phone, let alone cook. I don’t survive on takeaways, I make sure I cook to save money, but now I have to buy something for myself since the electricity has been gone for too long. Moreover, there is no network at all, I can’t even call my family members. They haven’t heard my voice for days, which is something I’m not proud of. I let my family know about my well-being. Staying in Laudium is starting to become an issue.”
Continued from page 4… Ishaq Khan (48), manager of Khan’s Fruit Lovers in Erasmia, said they are counting the cost of the recent electricity crisis in Laudium and Erasmia. “The power outage has resulted in a devastating loss of over R2000 at my business, thus far. is a popular destination for ice creams and milkshakes in Erasmia. Our area has been severely impacted by the prolonged power outage, as we have no electricity for days to keep our products cold. We have been Khan’s Fruit Lovers forced to discard our entire stock of ice creams and milkshakes, which got spoilt due to the heat and no electricity. The electricity crisis has been a disaster for us. Our customers are disappearing. It is heartbreaking to see my business suffer like this,” Ishaq lamented.
He added, “I urge the authorities to resolve the electricity crisis as soon as possible. I’m not just fighting for my business but also fighting for my livelihood.”
Manager of Oasis Water in Erasmia, Rofhiwa Zwedzhi (26), said, “We are not making any profit due to the electricity crisis. I’m using a generator, which runs slowly. I cannot pump water properly since the pressure is too low, because of the generator I’m using.” He added, “Customers are no-longer coming as usual because the fridge is running slowly. It cannot keep the water frozen to customer’s needs. It is hot so my customers prefer cold water.”
4th Ave resident, Suganya Sunder (32) said, “I am using a gas stove which is too risky because my child is still very young. However, using a gas stove is better than not having any alternative. At least I can cook a meal. My daughter always cries at night due to the darkness all around the area. I cannot charge my phone. It has been off for the past 2 days now.”
*Many businesses in the Laudium/Erasmia area have closed due to the electricity crisis, which is expected to only be resolved by the weekend.
