Pretoria - Every week residents in Soshanguve Block VV, UU and WW are forced to stay in the dark due to power outages happening outside load shedding schedules.
Residents expressed their frustration after they experienced another unexpected power cut on Monday afternoon without receiving any notification from the City of Tshwane.
They said the outages were either a result of cable theft or electrical faults related to the power tripping.
Some people were worried their food might spoil should the City not restore power by the end of yesterday. Other residents said they might be forced to dig deeper into their pockets to buy new groceries.
Many of them took to social media to express their frustrations, wanting to know from the municipality when power would be restored to their households.
The City, however, responded by saying the residents’ queries had been “escalated”.
A resident asked: “Why is there no electricity in Soshanguve block WW and VV. It’s been almost 25 hours. You are treating us like you are giving us this electricity for free.”
Another said: “So you expect us at Soshanguve VV to remain without electricity until the strike ends? Why are you not utilising metro police to escort the technicians?”
Another resident said: “We as residents of Soshanguve block WW, UU, VV, are asking for an appointment with you (City of Tshwane) regarding our issues about power failures, cable theft in our area, ward 36. Having power outages every week is now becoming a norm and it’s not right.”
Many believed the City was not taking them seriously after they had been without power for almost 24 hours, with the only communication being that “a technician has been dispatched to investigate the problem”.
One resident said: “Cable theft seems to be a weekly occurrence in Soshanguve VV. The very same employees who install these cables are the ones who later steal them.”
The city has repeatedly attributed backlogs in addressing power outages and other service delivery challenges to the continuing Samwu strike.
Mayor Cilliers Brink said: “Last week two waste removal trucks operated by contractors of the City were attacked in different parts of the city. One truck had its windscreen smashed with bricks, and the other was forced by a group of people to dump its content in the street.
“We have seen valves closed in Soshanguve so that reservoirs can run dry, A Re Yeng buses being stoned, nurses and patients being marched out of clinics, the entrances to depots blocked by cars and staff being chased out of offices and issued with threats of violence.”
Pretoria News