GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - As if the recent water and sewage concerns were not enough, earlier this week residents of some areas of Graaff-Reinet have also had to cope without electricity for over 30 hours, with no idea when power would be restored.
When the power first went off late on Sunday morning, many thought that loads hedding had started again, but it soon became apparent that it was a serious local problem.
When concerned members of the community contacted the municipal emergency numbers, they were initially told that the municipality was aware of the problem, and technicians were trying to locate the fault.
According to residents, several areas were affected, but the problems were mainly in the horseshoe area. Power was back in certain areas at about 20:00, but to the western side of Church Street, everything stayed dark. This was from Caledon Street right through to West Street.
It was reported by Cllr Samantha Graham, who had contacted a municipal official on Sunday afternoon, that at that stage, there were two underground electrical cables and an overhead conductor which were faulty.
"The municipality is working hard to resolve these issues, but at this stage, cannot say how long it will be before power will be fully restored," posted Cllr Graham.
The municipality worked through the night on Sunday and managed to repair one of the cables. This meant that some households had their electricity restored.
There were, however, unfortunately still two faulty cables. A specialist company was called from Port Elizabeth to attend to the matter, and it was hoped that their intervention would speed up the whole process and that repairs to the other two cables would be effected during the day.
At about 04:13 on Monday morning, those areas to the West of Church Street did indeed have power, but for less than an hour, as at 05:00 there was no power again. It was eventually restored just before 20:00 on Monday evening.
However, earlier on Monday evening, a post on the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality Facebook page said that the electricity supply may be interrupted from 22:00 due to repairs in all areas in Graaff-Reinet.
"We anticipate that all areas will have electricity from 24:00," concluded the update. This left residents in a state of uncertainty, and no update was given as to whether this planned outage would take place.
"At least we could be prepared this time," commented one resident ruefully. As it happened, there was no need to interrupt the supply.
One of the main concerns among residents was the contents of freezers, with no power for so long. The police also warned the community to be extra vigilant about security with whole areas of town in darkness overnight.
It is unclear whether these problems were caused by a lack of maintenance, a stroke of bad luck or possibly deliberate sabotage. The municipality was contacted for comment in this regard, however, at the time of going to press, none was received.
Whatever the reason, those affected were very grateful to all who worked so hard, including through the night, to see the power eventually restored.
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