Why are we without electricity?

Update

KAROO NEWS - "We are without power. We are without water. We are without answers or explanations! Our food in our fridges is going off. How must we cope? And all that while we have our families coming home for the first time in three years!" - says one of the deeply frustrated residents of Lotusville, Aberdeen.

In a Media Alert received from the Mayor’s Desk, signed by Cllr W Syfers (Mayor of Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality) reference is made of the Municipalities “shock” and “disappointment” about the “reckless and uninformed statements on all media platforms made by some councillors and other politicians regarding the reasons for the electricity supply interruptions”.

Intriguingly the correctness of said statements is not disputed in the said Media Alert.

The Media Alert contains information about certain correspondence between the DBNLM and Eskom; and possible legal proceedings.

However, it still leaves residents in the dark about the true reason (if not punitive load reduction) for them not having electricity. In fact, save for an apology for the inconvenience, no direct explanation is offered of what the cause or reason is for the “electricity supply interruptions”.

It is though implied that “additional load shedding” is implemented.

All 8 towns in the DBNLM area are dependent on borehole water. Pumps powered by electricity have to pump water into reservoirs in order for the residents to have water in their taps (those who do have access to water reticulation services).

Other residents in the DBNLM are dependent on water carting to storage tanks from where water has to be fetched and literally carried into their homes.

For instance, in Aberdeen a huge proportion of the residents do not have access to water from taps and rely on water being carted to their areas. The water tankers that cart water to Lotusville specifically, are being filled from Fire Hydrant points in the town area. But Aberdeen town has a very limited water storage system.

This in factual, practical effect leaves the townsfolk as well as the residents in Lotusville without water for lengthy periods of time. The tankers take hours to be filled during which time neither people in Aberdeen town nor people in Lotusville have any water at all.

With National load shedding times as hectic as it is, the borehole systems simply fail dismally in providing water to residents. With the added unexplained electricity supply interruptions, the situation is even worse.

To add to the already untenable situation, December is notoriously hot and it is high season for tourism.

While the Media Alert from the mayor states that the municipality is shocked and disappointed in the reckless and uninformed statements of some councillors, residents of some of the towns in the DBNLM either have taken their shock, disappointment and frustrations to the streets, or voiced them in various media platforms.

All share the same question: why are we without electricity?

In absence of clarification by the mayor, Samantha Graham-Maré (DA Member of Parliament and Constituency Leader for the DBNLM, as well as Shadow Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure) says: “The last agreement between the Municipality and Eskom was that Eskom’s current account would be paid every month by the Municipality. They have failed to meet even that agreement. And as a result Eskom is now punishing us”.