A four-day power outage in Sandvlei, Macassar, so outraged residents they tried to close the N2 down to show their discontent.
According to community activist Christiaan Stewart, the power went off on Sunday 26 February and residents had no electricity until it was eventually restored on Wednesday 1 March.
A resident of the area, Annelien Hartzenberg, explained residents tried to close down the N2 highway in protest, but were prevented from doing so by Law Enforcement officers. This, however, did not deter them and they still held a protest on Monday 27 February, just adjacent to the N2 near Boys and Girls Town.
Ward 109 councillor Peter Helfrich said this ward had been experiencing ongoing extended power outages, over and above load-shedding, for more than a year.
“The cause of this seems to be failing Eskom infrastructure due to the ongoing implementation of load shedding,” he said. “At times the power is off for days. It is a situation that’s becoming unbearable to residents.”
On Tuesday 28 February Helfrich communicated news he had received from Eskom regarding the outage in Sandvlei with residents, that overhead lines were stolen and contractors were expected the next day to conduct repairs.
In a media release Eskom mentioned the relentless theft and vandalising of equipment and critical infrastructure was severely affecting the electricity supply to customers in parts of the Cape Metropole, and also targeted Eskom infrastructure, leaving the Sandvlei community without electricity for a significant period.
“The theft of multiple spans of copper overhead conductor occurred during load shedding in the early hours of Tuesday (28 February),” Eskom stated.
“Eskom technicians are inundated with faults caused by theft, vandalism and illegal connections with multiple teams working around the clock to bring back electricity supply to valued customers.”
Helfrich arranged a march that was supposed to take place this past Saturday (4 March), during which residents would have handed a memorandum over to Eskom, but only a handful of residents showed up.
He said a new date had yet to be set for a march and a memorandum to be handed over to the power utility.
It stated: “Eskom understands the frustrations of communities affected by the continued theft and vandalism and urges the public to come forward with information that can put these perpetrators behind bars.
“Eskom urged the members of the public to report any suspicious-looking activity related to illegal connections, cable theft and vandalism by calling the Eskom crime line number at 0800 11 27 22.”
