Macassar residents live with perpetual power outages

Cape Town - Extended power outages due to failing Eskom infrastructure in Macassar have become dire and concerned residents say their pleas for a resolution have been ignored.

Chairperson of the Greater Macassar Civic Association, Henry Baatjies said they have been trying for more than a decade to have “50-year-old infrastructure” replaced for better service delivery in the community.

“For years our community has had to deal with this old infrastructure and neglect of maintenance in our area.

“For all these years Eskom never saw the need to install a ring feed or bypass for Macassar to help us when there is a cable fault or cable theft, and this occurs regularly.Our community has to deal with no power supply for more than 24 hours at times.

“As a community, and with the support of our ward councillor Peter Helfrich, we have managed to strengthen our neighbourhood watches, and as a result, have managed to reduce cable theft in our community,” said Baatjies.

Helfrich said residents went to him expressing their frustration with the multiple extended power outages.

“The primary reason for these extended power outages is not load shedding, vandalism or cable theft - it is failing electricity infrastructure of Eskom.

Resident Felicity Solomons said: “Macassar is fast becoming one of the darkest wards in South Africa.

“We are suffering and we need Eskom to stick to the commitments they have made.

We are not asking a lot. We are asking for two simple things. Replace the medium voltage power line and install a ring-feed.”

Eskom said: “Eskom is aware of the concerns by the Macassar community regarding the constant electricity supply issues experienced in the area over the past few months.

“At the end of August, electricity to Macassar was affected for approximately five days due to multiple faults caused by cable damage due to construction contractors carrying out roadworks in the area.

“The underground cable was further exposed to water ingress on Sunday causing breaker trips. Eskom management met with community leadership on September 5, 2022 to share information regarding the incident.”

Eskom confirmed they have “made a commitment to community leadership to address the issues and have scheduled a community engagement”.

Cape Times