Frustrated residents from Phoenix, who have been without electricity for more than a week, burnt tyres and debris and blocked off roads in a bid to have their pleas heard.
Vassie Govender, an executive member of the non-profit organisation Voice of Phoenix (VOP), said the illegal municipal workers’ strike over the past two weeks had left residents vulnerable.
“The community can no longer be pacified. They have had enough as their human dignity has been stripped to the core. They have been suffering for more than 10 days. Promises by the eThekwini Municipality that they would send workers to the area to fix the problem are not being kept.
“While we understand the plight of the municipal workers and their right to fight for what they want, it is the ratepayers, who are basically paying their salaries, that are suffering. Many of the municipal workers even live in these communities that are affected.
“Furthermore, the city needs to look for alternative measures to have electricity restored to the areas. If their workers are striking, then why not approach other municipalities for help to restore the services? Residents are fed up and will not rest until their voices are heard and the electricity is restored."
During a media briefing on Wednesday, Mxolisi Kaunda, eThekwini Mayor, said the city’s teams were able to reduce electricity faults from 80 to 50 as of yesterday (Tuesday).
“We attribute the partial restoration of electricity, water and refuse collection services to the assistance we are receiving from law enforcement agencies and private securities, who are playing a key role in escorting our staff to affected service delivery sites.
“We wish to also salute those employees who risked their lives and committed themselves to restoring services during these trying times,” he said.
Kaunda said the city appealed to members of the community to be patient as they have started to restore basic services.
“We fully understand their frustration as some of them have been without water and electricity for a number of days. However, we plead with community members to refrain from blockading roads because it poses yet another challenge to our already strained resources. When roads are blocked with burning tyres, our staff is delayed and at times prevented from reaching areas to resolve water and electricity faults.”
Kaunda said the city was committed to finding a permanent solution to this crisis.
“As part of our effort to resolve key issues that have been raised by workers, on Monday we had a meeting with the Minister of COGTA, the KwaZulu-Natal Premier, and the MEC for COGTA where we agreed that a task team should be formed to facilitate engagements between all affected parties. The task team has been given 14 days to do this work and to compile a report,” he said.