Durban - Phoenix residents are up in arms following a power outage that has lasted for several days.
The Mercury understands that 70 homes in the Grove End area have been without power since Tuesday.
The prolonged power outage has raised concerns about the municipal infrastructure as the area was without power for two weeks earlier this year.
Residents said City officials had only attended to the fault yesterday and fixed it in the morning, only for the power to be out again by 11am.
“We don't know what is going on, the power went out on Tuesday, they came and fixed it on Thursday morning and it was on for a few hours and then it was out again,” said one resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I have lost everything, the food in my fridge has spoiled as well as my medication.”
IFP councillor Jonathan Annipen confirmed that this was the second time this year that the area was facing a prolonged power outage.
“This very community was, earlier this year, left without electricity supply for almost two weeks, losing hundreds of thousands of rand worth of food supply for which they were never compensated. The IFP in Phoenix is calling on the municipality to act urgently and decisively to resolve this matter without any further delay.”
He said elderly people who were affected had lost life-saving medication, such as insulin for diabetes.
“The IFP has written to the city manager, Musa Mbhele, and the City's Head: Electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, demanding that a solution be found, even if it requires bringing in skilled technical personnel from outside the City’s network of artisans.
“We have also called on the City to issue a statement outlining the cause of this outage, what has been done thus far, and to commit to a turnaround time. Furthermore, seeing that this is an ongoing problem in this area, we have asked the City to prepare a turnaround strategy to bring a permanent resolution to this perpetual crisis which seems to occur mainly after torrential downpours,” said Annipen.
EThekwini Municipality’s head of communications, Lindiwe Khuzwayo, said the City was aware of a cable fault affecting Deanmore and surrounding roads and the north-western depot staff were busy with repairs.
“The cause of the fault is being investigated and we would like to apologise to residents for the inconvenience. Our teams are working hard to ensure that power is restored soon.
“We ask that residents continue to report electrical faults on our eThekwini Municipality App or by calling our call centre on 080 311 1111 or emailing [email protected]. The sooner they are reported, the sooner they can be attended to,” she said.