The community of Macassar has literally been left in the dark after a local substation was vandalised, causing residents to be without electricity for extended periods of time following every bout of load shedding since the start of the month (May).
Waseemah Flaendorp, a resident and community activist from Macassar, says that in between the power came on for a couple of minutes, but the load shedding schedule still applied and the power went off again.
“This caused some residents to take matters into their own hands and block off most entrances to Macassar with burning tyres on the evening of Tuesday 9 May,” she said. “Residents could not get home after work due to the blocked entrances from Link Avenue, including the entrances at the intersection close to Rheinmetall Denel Munition (RDM).”
Ward 109 councillor Peter Helfrich confirmed this, pointing out that the substation in Oklahoma Street was vandalised on Workers Day (1 May).
“Various pieces of equipment and parts were stolen,” he said. “Eskom has not been able to source the necessary equipment and parts to repair the substation since then.”
According to Flaendorp the criminals vandalised the substation during a bout of load shedding and they used the dark to their advantage. “Instead of experiencing four-hour load-shedding cycles, residents experienced six, or sometimes, 10-hour power outages,” she said. “In the most recent incident residents had power for only about four hours in 24 hours.”
On Monday 1 May the power went out at 02:00 in the morning. “On Tuesday 9 May the power came on quickly at 08:00,” Flaendorp said. “After that the power came back on for a second or two before it went off again. We have been struggling with power since then. On Wednesday 10 May our power was on again for a while as we have been exempt from the load shedding schedule. Eskom has sent a notice out to tell us to switch our stoves and kettles off when the power is on, to reduce stress on the power system. Currently we are waiting for parts and to have our power restored fully again.”
Helfrich confirmed Eskom could not inform residents when they would obtain the parts to fix the substation.
“As a result residents in Ward 109 have been experiencing multiple extended power outages,” he said. “In other words, when each load-shedding cycle concludes the power does not go back on.”
Firgrove was also subject to regular power outages for once the power goes off in Macassar it also affects these residents. “Every time after load shedding the power trips as soon as the power comes back on,” Helfrich said. “The substation that was vandalised in Macassar is also affecting these residents. It takes a number of hours to turn the entire suburb including Macassar, Zandvliet, Deep Freeze and Firgrove back on. As they (Eskom) have to turn each suburb on manually. This takes 15 minutes per suburb and this means that it can take an hour or more for everyone to be turned back on.”. The residents of Sir Lowry’s Pass (SLP) have also complained about power outages over the past month.
Ward 84 councillor Norman McFarlane explained it is important to remember SLP’s power supply falls under Eskom and not the City of Cape Town. “I can’t escalate the matters to Eskom, I can only report it. I am happy to take matters and report them to Eskom. But before I can do that I need reference numbers, meter numbers and correct cellphone numbers of the complainants. Otherwise I can’t follow up with Eskom.”
A meeting involving residents, Helfrich and Eskom has been scheduled for Monday 22 May.
