SANDU: Unpaid electricity bill leaves Dunnottar military base in the dark
The South African National Defence Union (SANDU) has accused the Department of Defence and Military Veterans of leaving hundreds of families in the dark after they failed to pay the electricity bill at the Dunnottar base on the East Rand.
It's understood the department is in arrears, causing the municipality to cut the power supply on Wednesday.
SANDU national secretary Pikkie Greef says it's the second time in 6 months that troops at the base have been without lights.
It's unclear how much is owed to the municipality.
The union’s Pikkie Greef says they wrote to the department on Thursday, calling on it to settle the bill.
"If the military is unable to pay its bills, then we have to ask serious questions - what's going on? why don't we care for our soldiers?"
Greef says the power cuts have hit impacted the soldier's ability to get the job done.
"We've got hundreds of families living in the base, the soldiers with their families, so obviously when you have no electricity, you have no warm water, you have no lights - that's on a personal level.
"On a professional level, which is very important for South Africa as a whole, they can't perform their duty. If there is no electricity in the offices, they cannot communicate with each other, the computers are down," Greef explains.
"It's just totally unacceptable that your military is left without a power supply, it leaves us vulnerable, it leaves South Africa vulnerable."
The union has threatened to legal action if the department cannot resolve the matter by Friday.
"If they don't meet the deadline, we'll bring an urgent application to the High Court and we'll force the state to get the municipality to switch on the electricity or pay the bill."
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SANDU: Unpaid electricity bill leaves Dunnottar military base in the dark by Nokukhanya Mntambo on Scribd
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