A Ruyterwacht pensioner says he had to throw two freezers worth of food away after his street’s power kept going off for days at a time.
Keith Arendse, 66, tells the Daily Voice: “The power went off on Monday (24 May) for 22 hours, only coming back on the next day and then on Thursday it was off for 24 hours.
“Whenever I get money then I buy a lot of meat and now I have to throw away one and a half lambs, packets of chicken and beef from my one freezer and in the other freezer I keep a lot of fish that I also had to throw away.”
Keith says when the power went out, he spent hours on the phone with Eskom but they could not give him any reason as to why the krag was off for such a long time.
He says at 8.50pm on Friday, the electricity came back on in Jan van Riebeeck Avenue but they now fear more blackouts.
“We do not know what to do now because the power just goes off and comes back on again without any explanation,” says Keith.
“We are already scared of this loadshedding that can happen at any time and it is already a struggle for me because I suffer from kidney failure, some days I cannot even stand so I cannot be worrying about my food going off or something worse happening.
Eskom spokesperson Kyle Cookson says the issue in Ruyterwacht is being investigated as no outages were planned for the area during the days that the lights were out.
“Eskom is aware of the situation and it is currently being looked at by the relevant departments who will seek a resolution for the residents and the community,” Cookson explains.