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While the rest of Komani has been enjoying electricity since the suspension of loadshedding, Ezibeleni residents suffer prolonged electricity outages of up to 13 hours at a time as well as water provision of about 30 minutes a day.
As winter is fast settling in the mountainous Komani, Ezibeleni residents in Zone 2 and 3, Bhekela, OR Tambo, and Mabuyaze face the prospects of their worst winter.
This all depends on whether Chris Hani District (CHDM) and embattled Enoch Mgijima Local municipalities (EMLM) can attend to the grievances raised by locals. EMLM is responsible for electricity while CHDM is responsible for water provision.
Meanwhile, EMLM spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa blamed the woes of the area on overload as a result of a substation transformer that was decommissioned.
Resident Ntombekaya Shenxane said that on April 6, they suffered a 21-hour outage with no communication from EMLM as to what was happening.
“On Saturday we had an outage from 01:00 to 22:00. We had been to the municipal office previously and we ended up sleeping there as no one attended to us. Instead, police were sent to chase us out. Our children sometimes go to school having washed with cold water,” she said.
Preparing for the children in the mornings has become a gruelling task for parents. Some children leave their homes around 06:00 and get back around 18:00.
At times they have to go to school without having eaten due to water and electricity outages, Shenxane said.
“Sometimes water will come back for about 15 minutes around 03:00. Who is awake at that time and how much water can you store in 15 minutes? When we spoke to the CHDM executive mayor (Lusanda Sizani) he told us that Ezibeleni water pipes had been diverted to the factories. So water must be pumped from the town water reservoir to the various areas in Ezibeleni which is not enough,” she said.
Besides the children, people who suffer from chronic illnesses were some of the worst affected.
“When you suffer from a chronic illness you need to take your medication on time. But we can’t take medicine without water and on empty stomachs. I take treatment for asthma, high blood pressure, and a heart condition. So I end up defaulting at times. This is our daily struggle,” she said, adding she has been living in Ezibeleni since 1974.
Another resident, Michael Xamlashe, said the municipalities were practising divide and rule. This, he said, as some areas around the municipal area were better off.
“We are not treated the same way as other areas in EMLM. We have to fight for service delivery and we get empty promises. After two to three days things go back to being bad. We were told the municipality had spent R1 million on a new transformer. We were told after its installation, we would not have electricity problems. But here we are again.”
Xamlashe said the affected areas had no idea why they faced the challenges they did. He said he has lost his faith in the ability of the municipality to think and plan.
Kowa said a new transformer was purchased and was on site with the expectation to install and connect before the end of the month.
“?A procurement process to hire a contractor for installation is underway. It was acquired to solve the load problems of Ezibeleni. The municipality is aware of the inconvenience that has been caused and this (installation) will be a permanent solution to power supply problems for Ezibeleni,” he said.
Kowa said the installation of the transformer was delayed by technical aspects, including vandalism and theft of certain elements at the substation, that needed to be resolved.
“Most of the issues have now been resolved and the installer will only focus on the installation of the transformer as well as protection,” he said.
CHDM spokesperson, Bulelwa Ganyaza did not respond to questions sent to her despite promising to revert.
