While residents in the Laudium/Erasmia area continue to complain about poor service delivery, Cllr Patel continues to believe that he and his ANC-led Tshwane Council are doing a good job (seemingly more so, as apartheid supporter Yusuf Abramjee, sings his praises).
Tired of crime and grime in the area, residents have also taken to the streets at their own cost, to clean up the area and also to close off streets, in an attempt to keep criminals away. In one of the latest complaints received, of poor service delivery in the area, residents of Emerald Street, Mocha Street, 19th Avenue and the surrounding areas have complained of the ongoing power outages, more so almost every Sunday.
Residents say that of late, almost each week, about half of Laudium is left without electricity from the morning and the outage lasts the entire Sunday. Many residents have expressed frustration, pointing out that it is strange that the power outage problem occurs mainly on Sundays, with some saying that it seemed that there was a deliberate ‘sabotage’ so that Council workers could claim double pay for working on a Sunday.
Rooka Motto, a 78-year-old resident of 19th Avenue, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “It is really frustrating as I am 78 years old and living with cancer. For the past few months, half of Laudium, especially the White Blocks area, has been without electricity almost every Sunday. The power goes off in the morning and only returns late in the evening. How are we supposed to cook, do laundry, or manage our household chores? Sundays are supposed to be family time, but instead, every week when we try to enjoy time with our loved ones, the lights go out. As a cancer patient, I need to take medication with warm water and food, but without electricity, how am I supposed to prepare that? This has gone too far and it must stop. Councillor Naeem Patel must answer as to why every Sunday,
mostly the White Blocks area suffers without electricity, while other parts of Laudium have power. It doesn’t feel normal. It feels like we are being punished. Every week we get the same message saying that the ‘Jewel Street substation has tripped,’ but how can this happen every single Sunday? This ANC Council is full of excuses and honestly, we don’t want to give Naeem Patel another term because we are tired of his poor response to the poor service delivery and the way he treats the White Blocks community.”
Romein Poonsamy of Grey Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “Almost every Sunday, the electricity goes off from early morning until evening. This is unacceptable because we are suffering due to the Council’s negligence. Ordinary people, especially those living in White Blocks, are the ones facing this problem. Half of Laudium, particularly the White Blocks area, experiences these outages, yet Councillor Naeem Patel has nothing to say about it. This feels like pure discrimination against the White Blocks community. We need electricity to cook, enjoy our Sundays as a family and to watch TV, but instead we are left in darkness the whole day. It seems like a deliberate act by the Council to punish the White Blocks people by cutting the power every Sunday.”
Lolly Chetty of 17th Avenue, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “We have been fighting against these power outages that have been happening almost every single Sunday for the past few months. It is a really bad situation because we always plan our Sundays around family time, from cooking a nice meal to having gatherings. But almost every Sunday morning, the electricity goes off and it is extremely frustrating for us. It’s only certain parts of Laudium that suffer and White Blocks is always the first to be affected by these unplanned outages. This is the Council’s fault. They either don’t want to fix the problem or don’t want to serve the White Blocks community. All I can say is that Cllr Naeem Patel is responsible for seeing that we receive proper service delivery and we demand proper service delivery. We hope that a new Ward Councillor will step in next year so that the people of White Blocks don’t have to continue suffering.”
Lingun Motto of Mocha Street, Laudium, told the Laudium Sun, “This is pure frustration. Almost every single Sunday the power goes off. We are fed up with this nonsense because the first thing we wake up to on Sundays is no electricity in our area. The Council must address this issue. Enough is enough. They have already caused too much harm to the White Blocks community by not treating us equally, compared to the rest of Laudium.”
