DA working around the clock to restore electricity supply in Ditsobotla
8 November 2021
Note to editors: Find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Jacqueline Theologo MPL
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ditsobotla has been working around the clock, applying pressure on the Acting Municipal Manager, Tsietsi Shema, to have electricity supply restored as a matter of urgency.
Residents of Ditsobotla have suffered massive electricity supply outages over the last four days after the switchgear, in use since the 1940s, blew at the main substation. Vandalism of mini substations where copper cables were stolen caused further damage estimated to run in the hundreds of thousands of rands, which also delayed the restoration of electricity supply.
The lack of maintenance and upgrades to the local distribution grid further contributed to a snowball effect on the ability of the Ditsobotla municipality to restore electricity supply within a reasonable period of time.
This could all have been avoided had the Ditsobotla municipality applied the R18 million to build a new main substation to meet increased demand instead of misusing these funds.
The electricity outages are negatively affecting the lives of residents, who now must suffer further financial losses because of spoiled food. Residents are also left without water supply as the electricity outages are affecting the pumping stations, forcing them to buy bottled water.
This is indicative of a total collapse in the ability of the Ditsobotla municipality to supply even the most basic of services which not only causes misery and despair to residents but also results in disinvestment of businesses as we have seen with Clover recently, resulting in job losses.
Currently, the Ditsobotla municipality falls exclusively under the administration of Acting Municipal Manager Shema since the new council must still be constituted following last week’s elections.
Nonetheless, DA councillors-elect have been on-site since the collapse of the grid to try and resolve the matter as soon as possible. The contractor is on-site, and we are hopeful that the electricity supply would be restored soon.
The DA will today write to Eskom and the Minister of Energy, Gwede Mantashe, to waiver loadshedding in Ditsobotla, or to schedule loadshedding at night, to allow the municipality to pump water to fill reservoirs and conduct critical maintenance on the grid. In addition, we will request the immediate intervention of the MEC for COGTA, Lenah Miga MPL, to ensure that expertise is dispatched to Ditsobotla to ensure that critical maintenance work is done.
Once the newly elected Ditsobotla Council is constituted, the DA Caucus will fight to prioritise the improvement of basic delivery, specifically the supply of electricity, water, and roads maintenance in the municipality.
Issued by Jacqueline Theologo, DA Constituency Head: Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, 8 November 2021
