DA launches new campaign against Ekurhuleni power cuts
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni has launched a new campaign against what it describes as constant power outages in the area.
The party's Michele Clarke says the constant power cuts keeps leaving residents in the dark for prolonged periods.
The outages come as Eskom implements load reduction in certain areas to combat overloading caused by illegal connections.
Clarke hopes the resident-led campaign will pressure the city into improving power supply.
"The Ekurhuleni metro, by its own admissions, suffers more than 1500 unplanned outages a day, overwhelming its limited technical staff and leaving whole areas and sometimes whole towns without power for days on end.”
Clarke says the DA wants national government to intervene.
"A special task team should be convened, inclusive of national government departments to investigate properties that are overloading the network, because of overcrowding and illegal connections.
“In order to assist with the illegal connections, the city should request assistance from the police and army to protect officials, city and private property. The metro should also investigate solutions to provide electricity or alternative energy sources to areas with illegal connections.”