Cape Town - Upset residents want Eskom and Balwin Properties to step up and permanently resolve the electricity issue affecting Macassar and Firgrove residents.
Hundreds of residents experience prolonged blackouts, which sometimes lasted about 36 hours, allegedly ever since Balwin started expanding the Macassar Road leading to the Huntsman residential area in August.
On October 9 and 10, they took to the streets, burning tyres on the N2 and blocking entrances to the area to voice their anger following alleged unsuccessful attempts to have engagements with Eskom and Balwin.
The two organisations then pitched to address the community and switched the power on, who still were not satisfied with the response.
Kashiefa Samuels, who also had no power between Thursday and Saturday, said the situation was “frustrating, and no one was communicating with us until we took action. Balwin told us it was because of an old cable that we didn't have electricity, and Eskom needed to replace it. At the same time, Eskom was saying Balwin damaged a cable. People were furious. It's not what we wanted to hear. We needed permanently switched on."
“I don't condone public protests, but that's the language they understood because they at least came to address and promised to fix the problem.
“Yes, they switched it on last night, but that's what they've been doing all these months. We don't want the power to go off unreasonable ever again."
Gracelyn Martin said: “Power problems started about three months ago when the developer started working on making the road bigger. We are currently on rotational electricity supply as there's only one cable supplying Macassar.
“There is no exact time frames. Last week was the worst, certain parts of Macassar was off since 12pm the Thursday, and there power was only restored Saturday morning 2.45am.
“Again on Saturday, power went off at 3.55pm and was off until 00.00 and again, 9 October, at 2.50pm to 5am this morning (October 10). Then one part of Macassar went off at 11.00, and other part was only for about two hours. We can't take it anymore. Only now, there's been an engagement, but it's still not clear what is going to happen. Partially fixing it doesn't work at all."
Steve Brookes, CEO of Balwin Properties, said: “We are aware of power interruptions in the area where we are currently upgrading Macassar Road. Due to the incorrect location and position of the cables, as previously confirmed by Eskom, the contractors nicked the cable casing when excavating for the stormwater line on August 5. Although no power outages initially occurred because of the damage to the cable casing, subsequent water ingress because of heavy rains caused power interruptions in late August. This matter was reported to Eskom, who reportedly fixed the matter.
“Our engineers confirmed that current works are not in the vicinity of the power cable and could not have caused the interruptions. Eskom is currently on site and are busy resolving the matter. We will continue to engage with the community to assist with communication to Eskom and on how this will be resolved going forward.”
Eskom confirmed having met with the community and that the matter is being attended to.
In a statement Eskom said on August 27 Macassar was affected for around five days due to multiple faults caused by cable damage, as a result of construction workers carrying out roadworks.
“Since the initial incident, numerous faults have occurred on the underground cables due to the continuous civil construction taking place in the vicinity. Operators are concluding repairs and the estimated time for the restoration of electricity to Macassar is 5pm on Tuesday, 11 October 2022.”
Eskom added that a small portion of customers would remain without electricity due to attempted theft and vandalism of a light voltage cable, but ensured that operators will commence repairs shortly.
“The area has seen a surge in cable theft and vandalism of equipment over the past few months that have led to numerous unplanned power cuts leaving customers without electricity supply for long prolonged periods.
“Eskom has been regularly engaging the community leaders and stakeholders to discuss possible solutions to protect infrastructure so that customers can experience a stable electricity supply. Another engagement will follow where Eskom will share possible solutions to address electricity supply issues.”
“Eskom wishes to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”