Outrage over power outage

Madeira Park residents without power for 4 days

Rubber bullets and teargas were used to disperse Madeira Park residents who barricaded the N6 with burning tyres on Tuesday, in protest against a four-day power outage caused by the local authority's decaying electricity network.

The protest, which started in the morning, resulted in an extended traffic jam, while another barricade blocked traffic coming into Komani from the Lesseyton side which consisted of people coming from as far as Johannesburg.

The residents claimed the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) did not take them seriously because they had been told since last Friday, when the electricity outage started, that it was being fixed, but nothing came of this.

An angry resident, Francina Joe, said they were tired of the municipality's promises.

Every day they made excuses on their social media page about their failed promises, while we have been suffering. They only updated us on their Facebook page, no one came to the ratepayers to explain what the problem was. They kept telling us they were fixing the problem, but we could not even see where they were working because they normally dig a trench along the N6.”

Joe said all they wanted was service delivery because their perishable food had gone off and they had stocked up to avoid going to town often.

Another resident, Kerwin Poovan, said the people of Madeira Park were tired of being given the run around by municipal officials when they visited them to enquire about the electricity.

We went to the technical services department to seek answers and attempted to speak to the municipal manager, but everyone was too busy to see us. A few community members went to the municipal offices again on Monday and we did not get an answer, no one would tell us what the problem was and where the cable fault was being fixed. Our being in the streets was the last resort

Poovan said their useless councillor Tokkie Deysel said he was in Bloemfontein when he was contacted for assistance.

The residents said the municipality needed to employ local electricians because every time there was a problem they were told a contractor in East London would have to attend to it. Resident Edos Uwuigbe said the power outage made it difficult for residents to observe the lockdown regulations as they did not have hot water to regularly wash their hands, and had to go to town to buy food every day.

Everything we bought to

“ensure we remained indoors as the government requested went rotten because of this electricity matter. Our councillor has been missing in action and we have nowhere to turn to because the municipality has not been much help.”

Lesseyton resident Nolitha Nyoka said she was on her way to visit a family member in hospital and she would have to return home because of the blockaded road.

Meanwhile, Mlungisi Tsection residents also closed off Pambo Street, indicating they also faced power outages and were shocked that the municipality was fixing the Madeira issues before theirs.

The area's councillor, Tokkie Deysel, said information about him being out of town was a lie and that he had been involved in the electricity matter. There is a Madeira residents “whatsapp group which I have been using to update residents about the electricity matter.

I was even there when they “were protesting and saw The Rep reporter taking photos. I have also been on site

“where the electricians were working. Whoever said I had been out of town was telling lies. I even received an SMS from the mayor commending my involvement throughout the process.”

During the protest, the police who attempted to clear the road to ensure traffic flow, fired rubber bullets and teargas at the relentless protesters, injuring scores of people, who at some point almost overturned a traffic control vehicle that was trying to drive past the barricaded area.

EMLM mayor Luleka Gubhula said several areas in Komani, including Madeira Park, had experienced electricity issues which was due to the dilapidated electricity infrastructure that had not been maintained for many years. Technicians had been

“working around the clock on the Madeira electricity issue and glitches caused by our decaying infrastructure were experienced as they tried to fix the problem. Last year the area experienced a 16-day power outage.