Komani Eskom crisis on premier’s agenda

SEWAGE spills, electricity outages, piles of refuse, poor roads and aging and deteriorating infrastructure were among the issues raised by the Border-Kei Chamber of Business in its meeting with Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle on Wednesday.

The meeting came after Eskom released a notice on March 7 warning people that if Enoch Mgijima local municipality failed to repay its R40-million debt to Eskom the power utility would start electricity cuts of six hours a day, beginning on April 3.

The announcement caused panic among Komani business owners and residents, which led to BKCOB meeting with the premier on Friday and again on Wednesday to discuss how the situation could be turned around.

BKCOB chairwoman Adre Bartis, during a networking function at The Gallery in Komani on Wednesday evening, said their meeting with the premier yielded positive results.

Giving a brief background to the situation in Komani, Bartis said the town’s electricity infrastructure had not been maintained for more than 14 years and, given the high turnaround of mayors and municipal managers, there had been no steady management in place to ensure any refurbishment had been carried out.

“There was a time when we had no electricity and no water. Chris Hani district municipality has no generator and recently there were cables stolen from the sewage plant in town,” she said.

“We had two meetings with the premier to table the situation of this municipality. People need to report the problems they have so that we can follow up on them,” she said.

BKCOB executive director Les Holbrook said they had been engaging with both Chris Hani district municipality and Enoch Mgijima local municipality.

“We have not been receiving water accounts for 18 months and in the meeting we had with the premier, cooperative government and traditional affairs [Cogta] MEC Fikile Xasa and other heads of departments, we tabled all the challenges we have in this town,” Holbrook said.

“In our meeting with the premier, he did not give us straight answers but he said in future the town is going to be on his agenda.

“He appointed Xasa as the responsible politician for the recovery of Komani.”

He said Masualle wanted a technical report on the crisis in Komani within seven days, and after 14 days, a memorandum of understanding would be signed by BKCOB, the Chris Hani district municipality, Enoch Mgijima and Cogta.

“The meeting has been positive. We have decided to go to the highest decision-maker in the province.”

Chris Hani district municipality said they were still in talks over how the district could assist Enoch Mgijima municipality with the Eskom issue.

Enoch Mgijima spokesman Fundile Feketshane did not respond to questions sent to him, while executive mayor Sisisi Tolashe and municipal manager Chris Magwangqana had not answered their phones by print deadline. —