Africa-Press – South-Africa. Frustrated Macassar residents in the Western Cape are hoping President Cyril Ramaphosa will intervene to solve the suburb’s load shedding problems.
Because of failing Eskom infrastructure, Macassar’s load shedding continues even after scheduled times.
Residents say Macassar has become one of the darkest places in country because the power fails to turn back on after a bout of load shedding.
The suburb only has one substation.
A local resident, Shaheen Waggie, said:
He spoke of the plight of sickly residents, who are dependent on electricity to keep medical equipment going.
“We are in the dark, Mr President,” Waggie said.
Another resident, Rosaline Booysen, said load shedding had affected her health.
“I have asthma and use a nebuliser to open up my chest if it pulls tight. This prolonged load shedding is depressing – because I fear that, when my chest pulls tight, I won’t be able to use the machine.
“There are others residents, with different health conditions, who also have machines they need to use, but cannot because of load shedding.”
WATCH | ‘We are frustrated’: Macassar residents protest against power outages caused by cable theft
Gillian Daniels’ husband is a quadriplegic, paralysed from his neck to his feet.
“He has a specific bed and mattress that is designed for him and it requires electricity to keep him comfortable. If there is no power, then the whole bed is flat and serves no purpose for my husband. It will result in him getting bed sores and that is something we don’t want,” Daniels said.
The ward councillor, Peter Helfrich, has been leading the charge to get the suburb’s power woes addressed.
The letter states:
The ward’s electricity is supplied directly by Eskom.
Helfrich said the power outages were a direct result of Eskom’s failing infrastructure or a failure by Eskom to protect the infrastructure from vandals in certain hotspots.
“We are faced with a situation where the only cable supplying the ward with power has failed many times over the last 12 months, leaving our ward in darkness, sometimes for days on end,” said Helfrich.
“Our residents, especially our elderly and most vulnerable, are suffering. The situation in our ward is becoming unbearable. We appeal to you to urgently intervene.”
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed the letter was received.
“It will be processed accordingly,” Magwenya said.
Eskom, in turn, said cable theft and vandalism of Eskom infrastructure “continues to be a burden” for customers in affected areas.
According to Eskom, on 1 May, the substation in Macassar was broken into and severely vandalised during a four-hour load shedding slot.
“It led to a major backlog of network faults in the area, where customers who had already logged faults due to no supply were further impacted.
“Outages are not the direct result of an ageing network, but rather the surge of criminal activities, such as cable theft, and the vandalism of Eskom infrastructure during load shedding,” said Eskom.
It said repairs were in progress and should be concluded in the coming weeks.
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