Tshwane– Major power outages have left the city of Tshwane in the dark. Most areas of the city have gone without lights for two to three days and some even for as long as eleven days. The power outages are said to be a result of sabotage and not from equipment failure.
According to Naeem Patel, Ward 61 Councillor, the problem started after political parties promised workers, they would ensure the increase they were promised in July last year would be granted if they voted for them. Two months ago, “at a council meeting, coalition partners voted against the three and a half percent increase for workers and workers took to the streets last week”.
Efforts are being made to restore power as fast as possible, but it is being hampered by workers who feel hard done by, by politicians. Patel believes the way the cables are being cut, amongst other things, indicates the power stations are being sabotaged by the same people who are employed to look after them.
“This was not cabling that was stolen. When people steal cables, you see cables that are missing. Here, they snip the top, they snip the bottom, so we can’t join the two. So, you know it’s not vandalism, but it is sabotage.”
It is not only cables that are being cut, but also power stations and substations are being sabotaged. Council bakkies are being used in these acts as well.
“In terms of our substations, obviously council workers know the power stations better than anyone else because they work there every day. I was at the substation in Laudium and we found a council bakkie and council guys working, and I was so happy. I said, ‘Finally our power is coming back’ and not even a few hours later, I found out that these workers were actually inside the substation and sabotaging the station.”
In other substations they found that workers “switched the negatives and positives. Instead of power coming in, it was going out [at] each substation. They just made things difficult”.
“Once lights were restored after two days in most areas, we found it went off after a few hours and the reason is, council workers basically snipped wires, because they couldn’t get into power stations because we secured it, they basically snipped wires and cables to make sure that certain areas remained down and make it just more difficult for the council workers that are working to work.”
It is difficult to bring in security guards to help control matters. There is a fear attention will be brought to the substation under maintenance and those specific council workers will be targeted. Patel explained the problem experienced in Laudium was that repairs were being announced by community members via social media groups who have disgruntled workers as members. As soon as “power is back on, you’ll see we have a problem where areas are cut off or vandalism takes place, sabotage takes place”.
Although his community was subject to sabotage, Patel was grateful they “didn’t have any violence here like other parts of the city where workers were beaten and sitting in hospitals fighting for their lives”.
A councillor liaises between the council and the community, and is not in a position of authority, explained Patel. Every councillor is fighting to restore power to their community.
According to Patel, on Saturday night, workers attempting to restore power to a substation in Laudium were intimidated by “Action SA supporters and a pr councillor” and were forced to abandon their work to fix a substation in The Reeds.
Ivan Breytenbach, a local resident, has been through two separate power outages within the past two weeks. Not only has it impacted his life at home, but also at work.
“The first power outage lasted for more than 24 hours while the second lasted for more than 12 hours. The costs were exorbitant to run an accounting firm from a coffee shop. Aside from that, you can’t shower since most of [Pretoria] East was without power. Food in the freezer is lost so you buy groceries twice a month.”
Breytenbach and Patel shared the same sentiment about protests. Patel mentioned an incident when the community went without water for eight days. After the community took to the streets to protest, the “next morning, miraculously, water came back”.
Breytenbach understands workers “are underpaid and underappreciated. The only time anyone notices them is if they light tires on fire,” but this does not mean it is acceptable.
Patel felt schools need to start educating kids about their rights and how to protest.
“We’re going to have to educate people that to protest is your right but damage to property is a criminal offence. It’s a crime to damage property but it’s your right to protest peacefully.”
Breytenbach believes it “would be pointless” to make an example of protests who damage property. Proactive discussion and empathy will have more of an impact.
“Everyone understands the power grid is under pressure. Workers know the work must be done. They just want some recognition.”
Currently 97% of power has been restored but Patel cannot say when power will fully be restored.
“It’s going to take a while because the vandalism and sabotage is to such an extent that the tractors have to be brought in. That area is dug up and the areas are rewired… It’s going to be some time. I can’t say five or six days but it’s going to be a while for power to be fully restored.”
Listen to Julie Alli speak with Cllr Naeem Patel here:
