City took months to fix exposed electrics
IT has taken the eThekwini Municipality at least three months to fix an exposed electricity box at North Beach in Durban.
Glenwood resident Steph Smith was at the beach daily and recently complained to the Daily News about an electricity box outside one of the restaurants, which had a door missing for about three months.
He had called the eThekwini Municipality’s electricity department and lodged complaints.
“After it was reported, the municipality went to the area, took measurements, left and did not come back,” Smith said.
He said after he reported it again and returned to the area, he found that the municipality had covered the opening with cardboard and tape. “But a few hours after it was covered, the cardboard was gone, which makes sense because there are people who walk around collecting cardboard.
“The cables are exposed and you would have children playing and adults walking around,” he said.
Smith questioned how some of Durban’s beaches could have been given blue flag status when there was a danger on the beach.
“The municipality doesn’t care about safety, which is something that cannot be compromised,” he said.
A car guard told the Daily News that tourists during the recent school holidays had contacted the municipality to complain about the exposed electricity box, saying their children could be electrocuted.
Smith said a municipal employee told him the box was for the lights on the beachfront.
A manager from one of the restaurants next to the electricity box said that a few times recently, the electricity for the entire restaurant block had suddenly switched off.
“It would go off sometimes at 5pm and we would have no choice but to clean up in the dark, close our doors and go home because we wouldn’t know how long it would stay off,” she said.
However, she could not say whether the exposed box had caused the outages.
Mandla Nsele, the municipality’s acting head of communications, thanked the Daily News for bringing the matter to their attention. Workers were seen fixing the problem yesterday.
An employee from the electricity department said there were many boxes along the promenade that have been left in the same state because the doors were stolen.
He said for the municipality to fix the box, it has to first take measurements and offer a temporary solution. They then order the necessary parts, wait for them to be delivered and attend to the fault or hazard.
“It’s a long process that has to go through the proper channels before it can be fixed.”