Business hard-hit by outages
Komani business owners have expressed disappointment with the manner in which the local authority has handled an extensive power outage which has cost thousands of rands a day to keep generators running since last week.
The power failed in several areas of town, managed by the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM), last Tuesday. Westbourne, Madeira and Kings Park, Cathcart Road, Prince Alfred Street, Ebden Street and Grey Street have been affected.
A transformer which exploded at the western sub station led to the areas being cut off, while a faulty cable has been the cause of the power failure in the other areas.
During an interview on Tuesday EMLM spokesman Fundile Feketshane said a transformer from Eskom had been acquired, but repairs had to be done.
“During the assessment of the transformer from Eskom, it was noted that it had leakages on the seals. This would be worked on and fixed by Tuesday and once repairs were concluded, an accredited service provider will transport the transformer in a specialised vehicle to Komani. The estimated time for its transportation is two days, as it is a sensitive machine.”
Eskom said otherwise, with spokesman Zama Mpondwana saying, “Attempts to acquire a replacement transformer from our side have not materialised. However, we continue to look for other possible means to assist the municipality with its transformer repairs”. It was later indicated that transformers had been sourced from the ELIDZ and the King Sabatha Dalindyebo municipality.
Border-Kei Chamber of Business administrator Adre Bartis said local businesses had suffered huge revenue losses as a result of the outage.
“A small 8kv generator requires about
R400 per day to operate, and that is a small one for household use. Big businesses require generators with big voltages which cost a lot of money to operate for a single day. Sandy Boy from Lukhanji Spar has told me she spends
R16,000 per day for diesel and has suffered a loss of about R10,000 because of food going off.”
Bartis said newly introduced administrator Vuyo Mlokoti, was one of the few people in the municipality who were willing to work with the chamber to resolve the power issue.
“Businesses have offered support to the municipality, but they have refused. I am not sure whether they do not want us to make them look bad or what, but the current situation is above them.”
Allister van Schoor of Red Guard said the power failure had so far cost the business R18,000 with generators running non-stop to ensure that the control room continued to give 24-hour service to clients.
Mica sales manager Sean Heidemann said the store was spending R3,500 on diesel per day for their generator.
“I am disappointed with Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality’s failure to communicate with businesses concerning the power outage. There are many platforms they could use like social media to communicate with us because we understand that unexpected problems do occur.”
“We can not run the business properly because we have a sensitive X-ray machine and sterilising equipment that we cannot use with the generators,” dentist Stefan Cloete said. “This means that we can not give our best service. During the previous loadshedding the X-ray machine broke and the insurance company did not want to replace it. Buying petrol is also expensive – we have spent more than R3,000 since last Wednesday.”
Cloete said it was clear that EMLM did no maintenance or there would not be such problems. “The municipality does not have to worry about their salaries but we do because we depend on the business to make our money.”
Irene Montellano from Nami Photo Lab said they were buying a generator which would cost about R8,000 on top of the losses the business had already incurred.