DURBAN- AN OLD age home in the Pietermaritzburg CBD is among the places hard hit by power outages and have not had power for the past five days.
The electricity crisis in the city sparked a protest last night that went on until this morning as residents living in one the city’s hostels staged a demonstration, closing the road with burning tyres and demanding to be reconnected.
One of the councillors in the area Suraya Reddy of the DA said electricity at the hostel was deliberately cut because illegal connections in the hostel were affecting the city’s fragile electricity network which was causing outages in other areas.
“This was affecting the paying customers,” she said.
She said the electricity grid in Pietermaritzburg is on the brink of collapse and she has been flooded with complaints from individuals who have not had electricity for days.
The municipality is struggling to maintain its infrastructure, and recently signed an agreement with Eskom to maintain some of its substations.
“In my ward there are many areas that do not have electricity, the King George old age home has been without power for the past five days. I have received numerous complaints from people in the CBD who cannot trade because they have been without power for days.
“At the moment I have counted about 134 individual faults, not including the major outages in the CBD,” said Reddy.
The Msunduzi municipality publishes a list of outages in the area that shows close to 20 areas that are facing power outages.
Municipal spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha said power to the hostel had been cut due to non-payment of debt and illegal connections.
MERCURY