Residents and businesses throughout Germiston have been battling power outages in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, a large power failure hit the Germiston CBD, Delville, parts of Wadeville, Germiston South, Elsburg and Tedstoneville, to name a few suburbs.<\/p>
On Thursday, the power was still off in Tedstoneville and some people in Fishers’ Hill were left without electricity.<\/p>\n
A Germiston South resident told the GCN that they have experienced nine power outages in the past month.<\/p>
He said the outages last for hours on end and you can never get any response from the metro.<\/p>\n
Werner Le Hanie, from Elsburg, said the latest power outage was about the eighth the suburb had suffered in the last three weeks.<\/p>\n
“The metro must improve their service,” he said.<\/p>\n
“You cannot get through to the call taking centre and, if you try to call the 999 numbers, they are never answered.”<\/p>\n
Nicholas Bruce, a Georgetown resident, said their area has been experiencing power outages, which last for no less than six hours at a time, since mid-March.<\/p>\n
The outages occur at least four times a week.<\/p>\n
Pasi Mubaiwa, a resident of Tedstoneville, told the GCN that the power went off on Wednesday and, by 4pm on Thursday, had still not been restored.<\/p>\n
“It is clear to me that these power cuts are being stage managed, as the adjacent industrial areas and the rail network do not have power cuts at all,” Mubaiwa said.<\/p>\n
“We need an explanation as to why power loss is recurrent.<\/p>\n
“Does the mayor also get such power cuts at his home, wherever it is?”<\/p>\n
The GCN contacted the metro to find out why residents in Germiston were experiencing so many power outages.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, we did not receive satisfactory answers to all our questions.<\/p>\n
The metro’s department of communications and brand management said: “The power failure on Wednesday was due to a cable fault.<\/p>\n
“Tedstoneville was off for longer, as it took longer to locate, repair and test the affected cable in the area.<\/p>\n
“The many power outages over the past few weeks can be attributed to the recent heavy rains causing numerous problems on the electricity network.<\/p>\n
“Maintenance of the electricity infrastructure is being done.”<\/p>\n