Plan to electrify informal settlements due to start

Upgrade of Mlungisi substation first priority to end power woes

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality plans to start the electrification of informal settlements in the region but they will start with the upgrading of Mlungisi substation. The intervention is aimed at curbing electricity woes in the municipal area.

The municipal electricity bill is currently at around R800m and by resolving the lack of power in informal settlements which has been driving illegal connections, the bill is expected to decrease.

According to council speaker Noluthando Nqabisa, the overloaded Mlungisi substation needed to be addressed urgently as it was a fire hazard. To take the load off Mlungisi substations the VAN areas would be moved to other mini-substations.

Nqabisa said the intervention followed lengthy talks about protecting and securing the substations and mini-substations of EMLM.

The prime objective was to move away from a reactional approach of “jumping when there is fire”. As a result, they had engaged the national cabinet representative (NCR) with the aim that refurbishment at the substation be prioritised, as it was a matter of weeks before it exploded.

“We requested this so it can accommodate the demands of Mlungisi, and all the steps followed in the Western substation implemented. We buy transformers frequently like we are buying paper, because they burn on a regular basis as they are overloaded by illegal connections.”

She said the municipality could not afford to have people stealing electricity as this affected EMLM’s maintenance budget and encouraged lawlessness in society.

Municipal manager Nokuthula Zondani said they had held a meeting with Eskom concerning the bill and the power utility had been lenient given that EMLM was cashstrapped.

Zondani said part of the reason the municipality’s debt was skyrocketing was due to the debt bill not being serviced on a monthly basis and incurring high interest rates.

“We were asked to commit to paying at least R5m per month.”

However, the DA’s Lindie Haggard said a council resolution had been taken for the bill to be serviced monthly.

But Zondani it was difficult to pay the bill when she had to consider paying wages of the employee at the same time.

Suggestions were made that the municipality get the NCR involved to hold talks with the Development Bank of South

Africa (DBSA).

The DA’s Zuko Mandile, with other councillors, recommended that the correct supply chain procurement procedures be followed instead of the contractor operating at the Western substation passing through automatically.

ATM’s Siphelo Ndarala wanted to know what the plan was for the Gauteng informal settlement which, according to his knowledge, was among those to be moved to the New Rathwick RDP housing project.

Technical services portfolio head Mhlangabezi Mangcotywa said all informal settlements in EMLM would be electrified, but not in one go.

Giving an update on the Western substation, he said it was set to be commissioned before switching on could take place. “The chaos causing us to implement load-shedding will come to an end.”