By Sheree Béga
Eskom is waiting for the Kempton Park municipality to determine the cause of a fire at its substation this week that plunged the area into darkness before it comments on the death of a resident who was apparently poisoned by fumes from her generator.
"Eskom is engaging municipalities that experienced incidents at their substations to establish the cause of the faults," Eskom said this week. "We're currently gathering data in this regard. As soon as this has been collated, we'll be able to give a detailed response."
Aletta Dornel (48) of Kempton Park was running her generator in a poorly ventilated spare room in her home - near her own bedroom and her son's bedroom - when she died.
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Reports indicate that she bought a secondhand 3,5kW generator nearly two months ago, when blackouts became more frequent. Her teenage son was taken to hospital.
Authorities suggest electricity will be restored to the area early next week.
On Tuesday, a heart patient in Fourways waited for emergency heart surgery at Olivedale Hospital's cardiac theatre. where he had been admitted earlier that morning.
But the area's planned load-shedding delayed his operation, and it was only after Netcare contacted City Power that the electricity utility agreed to restore power to the area so that he could undergo surgery. The man was discharged on Thursday.
Meanwhile, City Power spokesperson Louis Pieterse said Joburg's pre-emptive load-shedding would run as usual after next week's load-shedding-free week across the country.
"[In Joburg] we've got a fortnightly rotation at the moment, so next week there'll be no load shedding…The following week will be as normal.
"Customers only have to look at the load-shedding schedule on our websites and in the press. The rotation will follow as normal."
- This article was originally published on page 4 of The Star on April 26, 2008
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