Several areas in the city have been left without electricity supply or proper sanitation due to the municipal infrastructure being vandalised and stolen.
THE NEAR-constant vandalism of municipal infrastructure is hampering service delivery to the residents of Kimberley.
This was a comment made by Sol Plaatje municipal manager Thapelo Matlala during a media briefing at the council offices on Tuesday.
According to Matlala, several areas in the city have been left without electricity supply or proper sanitation due to the infrastructure being vandalised and stolen.
This is the plight of a Homelite family, who have been without electricity after the power cables to their home were stolen.
Zeldine and Daniel Lloyd said that the incident occurred during load shedding over the weekend and that their family had to find ways to survive without electricity.
“We had load shedding during the early hours of Saturday morning. As I was lying in bed, I heard some commotion near the roof of the house. I woke my husband up and he agreed with me that there was someone on the roof. I grabbed my cellphone in order to use it as a source of light as the power was off. Also, it is very dark in this area at night as there are no high-mast lights,” said Zeldine.
“My first thought was that someone was busy stealing the satellite dish. However, when I pointed the phone light at the roof I saw that the satellite dish was in its place, but the electric cables had been cut. I saw that the cables running from the electric pole to my house had been cut.
“Our house had been left without electricity and we have to now make use of candles. It is very frustrating as we also had to borrow a gas stove and buy gas so that we could cook. I also have to ask my neighbours whether I can iron my children’s school uniforms.
“My husband suffers from sleep apnea and has to make use of an oxygen mask, which operates on electricity, when his condition worsens. I have not been able to sleep as I constantly have to monitor his breathing. This has put a lot of strain on our daily lives.”
Zeldine said she reported the matter to the municipality but was told that she must fix the problem herself.
“I reported the matter on Saturday already. A team did come out to look at the problem, but they said I am responsible for fixing the problem. My husband and I are not employed. We do not have the funds to fix the problem.
“What is worrisome, is that there are live wires hanging from the pole where the cables were stolen that have not been correctly detached. There are children who walk past the pole with the cables dangling from it. It is a hazard and poses a danger to anyone who might touch them.”
Matlala said that the restoration of vandalised infrastructure has been costly for the city.
“We have invested massive resources to ensure that all the street lights in the city are working. Currently, the city is dark and it appears as if the street lights are not working. We continuously fix the lights but find that the same lights are repeatedly vandalised,” said Matlala.
“We have rolled out a programme in Roodepan to ensure that the street lights and high-mast lights are working. However, the vandalism still continues and people are suffering because of that.
“We urge our communities to stand up against vandalism. We cannot sit back and watch infrastructure being vandalised and stolen. When street lights are not operating, the darkness poses a danger to the safety of the community.”
He added that the municipality will request Eskom to exempt some areas from load shedding at night.
“We will be meeting with Eskom and will ask them to exempt certain areas from load shedding during the night. Those areas can have load shedding during the day. We have noticed that criminals steal some of our electric equipment in a massive way when there is load shedding. It appears that they know the Eskom load shedding schedule and then strike during those times. They go out in their numbers when it is load shedding and strip electrical equipment.”
Matlala warned residents not to fix damaged municipal infrastructure.
“Electricity poles are municipal infrastructure. No one should fix them. The municipality is responsible for fixing its infrastructure. Residents cannot appoint anyone to work on municipal infrastructure. They should report the matter to the municipality and the municipality will dispatch a team to handle the problem,” Matlala said.
