The power outage has been caused by the vandalism of 33kV and 11kV cables between Retief and Archbell at the City Centre Taxi Rank sub-station.
While the rest of the country is enjoying a much-needed reprieve from load shedding, businesses and residents in Pietermaritzburg are bearing the brunt of a four-day power outage that has left them facing financial ruin.
According to the Msunduzi Municipality acting municipal manager Sabelo Hlela, the outage has been caused by the vandalism of 33kV and 11kV cables between Retief and Archbell at the City Centre Taxi Rank sub-station.
According to the locals, generator noise can be heard around the stores in the Pietermaritzburg CBD.
Hlela said pre-repair testing has been conducted, jointing works are in progress, and cable repairs are under way, including the draining of oil, vacuuming, and pressurising of oil.
A business owner in the Pietermaritzburg CBD, Dawood Essop, said it has been four days without power, adding that it has been difficult to operate without electricity.
“Life has really been hard without power, and the worst thing is that we have to take our profit and pay for diesel generators.
“Business is all I have and I survive with it. The municipality has not updated us, I really hope this gets resolved because we cannot survive another day without power,” Essop said.
Melanie Veness, CEO of Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business, said outages are bad for business and when you have them as often as they are lately, they’re catastrophic.
“Any electricity outage is damaging to the economy, it affects every business in the fault zone, whether they are able to run a generator or not, and it also affects businesses beyond that – their value chain, that is, suppliers and customers of the affected businesses.
“Companies that don’t have an alternative supply of energy cannot produce, which negatively impacts turnover, and those that do have generators have to accommodate the additional costs of running the generator, often for extended periods, which erodes profit,” she said.
Kantha Naidoo, chairperson of the Msunduzi Economic Development Agency (Meda), said businesses are heavily affected by the outages as they have to cough up diesel money for generators.
“This is a serious issue that has negatively affected business in various spheres. Retailers, tourism, food outlets, etc. Some have generators but many don’t. Customers are getting frustrated.
This is the school holiday period, we should be expecting more expenditure, but businesses are seeing a decline. We appeal to the municipal team to have this resolved as a matter of urgency,” Naidoo said.
DA councillor Rachel Soobiah said the power outages are a major cause for concern, adding that businesses can barely survive without power.
“This has really affected small and big businesses. These are the people who depend on their businesses, and without power they cannot run their businesses.
What is more frustrating is that they are also expected to pay electricity bills at the end of the month,” Soobiah said.
ACDP councillor Rienus Niemand said the outages are impacting several key locations including municipal offices, the Premier’s office, city hall, magistrate’s and high court library and surrounding businesses as well as residents.
“Reliable affordable electricity supply is vital for economic activities and growth. The ACDP stresses the importance of sustained efforts and proper management to ensure a consistent electricity supply, which is crucial for economic stability and growth,” said Niemand.
Hlela assured the residents that the power outage matter is being attended to and urged the public to report any instances of infrastructure vandalism immediately to help prevent future disruptions.
The Mercury