Many people in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality have lost their jobs due to ongoing electrical outages, which have wreaked havoc with the local economy and added to the job losses in the Eastern Cape.
According to Jane Cowley, MPL and Enoch Mgijima Constituency Leader, electricity was finally restored to Komani today, May 5, after an outage of six days.
She said three weeks ago, Sterkstroom had no electricity for 13 consecutive days, and two weeks ago large parts of Komani and Ezibeleni had no electricity for eight consecutive days.
“Electrical outages have become a daily occurrence and are largely a result of decades-long lack of maintenance,” said Cowley.
She said the Enoch Mgijima Municipality technical department continues to try to repair blown cables, but there are no cables in stock, so these must be sourced from elsewhere.
Furthermore, Cowley said the bending of such cables before connection “indicates that the technical staff are not sufficiently qualified to work with them, as this damages them immediately and causes further cable blows”.
“The cost to businesses and residents is huge. Many businesses are closed to trade during outages, and food outlets lose refrigerated and frozen food items worth millions of Rands,” she said.
“Accommodation facilities have to turn patrons away as they are not able to provide them with meals or hot water.”
Cowley said in some cases, accommodation facilities have had to close their doors and their staff have suffered job losses, at a time when unemployment is rife, and every job is crucial to guard against more severe poverty and hunger.
“I write to the national administrator of the municipality to urgently request that funds be made available to build up a stockpile of necessary equipment and cabling so that repairs can be effected rapidly,” said Cowley.
“I shall also request that specialist training of the technical staff be undertaken so that cables are no longer damaged when being attached.”
Cowley said the upgrading of the entire electricity network in the municipality must be prioritised.