The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Middelburg, calls on Eskom to urgently intervene after a temporary mobile substation that has been supplying power to the communities of Blinkpan, Koornfontein and surrounding farms got damaged and left them in the dark for the last 3-days.
In February 2021, residents faced a similar outage due to damaged infrastructure, and it led to a 16-day power outage. The mobile substation was only supposed to be a temporary solution, but it was operating for the past 3-years.
In 2021, residents sounded the alarm that the temporary solution was not acceptable, yet no permanent solution was found, and the temporary solution became the norm.
Fast forward 3 years later, and residents of Blinkpan, Koornfontein and surrounding farms face a similar fate. The power went off on Sunday 2 November midday. Late on Monday 4 November, Eskom alerted the community that the mobile substation is beyond repair and they will have to replace the sub. Feedback received from Eskom says that it will take some time to get the new mobile substation and install it.
The community now faces similar timelines as to 3-years ago. Local stakeholders are stepping up to prevent crime in the areas affected by the black-out.
The DA urges Eskom to quickly intervene and work with the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in consultation with relevant stakeholders so that power can be restored in Blinkpan, Koornfontein and surrounding farms.
The DA with also engage the Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) responsible for Electricity and Energy in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality to also intervene and help restore power in the above-mentioned farms.