Residents can claim for cost of food lost in outages

Residents in Tshwane can lodge a claim with the city’s legal department for compensation for meat and other food that goes rotten due to power outages.

There have been 1 498 power failures between November 2017 and April 2018 from cable theft and vandalism. It has cost the city an astronomical R51 million in the past six months.

Mayoral spokesperson Sam Mgobozi said the city’s assessment of cable theft incidents in Tshwane indicated that there was an active attempt to destabilise the city’s administration.

“The cable theft unit in the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) has come under increasing pressure.

“The unit is employing proactive measures, such as physical guarding and patrols, to curb cable theft and that progress in this regard is being made.

“We are working around the clock to ensure every day that less and less of our services are being interrupted by criminals,” Mgobozi said.

The cable theft and vandalism of the electrical infrastructure affected the planning activities of the maintenance teams and added to their man-hours.

“Overtime and fatigue are being experienced by the respective teams,” Mgobozi said.

He said it must also be noted that this was an additional expenditure that constrained the operational budget as it was not

We are working around the clock to ensure every day that less and less of our services are being interrupted by criminals. Sam Mgobozi Mayoral spokesperson

factored into the operational budget.

Meanwhile, the Waltloo Industrialists Association recently indicated they have had enough of the endless power outages and the millions of rands they are losing on a weekly basis due to the increased frequency and duration of power outages.