Businesses on the Beaufort Street end of Bathurst Street are furious after excavations by municipal workers have left them without electricity during their peak business period.
Businesses on the Beaufort Street end of Bathurst Street are furious after excavations by municipal workers have left them without electricity during their peak business period.
Power outages hit the area on Sunday night, leaving businesses including OK Furnishers, Siyakubonga funeral services, the Sunflower Hospice Shop, Supersole, PG Glass, Midas and Penny Pinchers in the dark.
One lane has been closed off as large-scale construction work continues, and electricity department workers re-engineer underground structures in the area.
While Makana communications officer Yoliswa Ramokolo said the power outage was caused by a cable failure, businesses give a different account.
OK Furnisher's general manager Len Mallinson said he had unconfirmed reports that the outage had occurred after municipal workers, digging for water pipes, had hit an electricity cable instead.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail yesterday, Mallinson said his business was losing thousands of rands a day. He based this on last year's figures. On Wednesday the municipality provided the store with a diesel generator and by Thursday their power supply had been restored.
However, Mallinson says there are still problems.
"Ever since their repairs, our plugs keep tripping. They told us it is our fault and we have called an electrician at a cost to come and fix the problem."
Mallinson said they'd had no communication from the municipality about the outages. He said for three days he'd had to tell suppliers and courier companies who drove a long way to sleep over in town until the electricity returned.
"I had to book these guys places to sleep here in town at huge cost, because we couldn't receive nor dispatch items. We do everything on an electronic system."
Mallinson said customers were reluctant to enter his store, and turned back when they saw it was dark inside.
At Midas car parts store, the electricity returned early yesterday morning. Store manager Marius Barkhuizen said they'd had to hire a generator at a cost of R200 a day since Monday. Barkhuizen said, "The problem occurred when municipality was changing a fuse at the substation outside and when they switched it on again it just blew."
He claimed they had also cut a water pipe, resulting in two days without water at his business.
Co-owner of Supersole shoe-repair outlet Sandra Leeuskeeter said frustrated customers were threatening and insulting her every day.
"People want their shoes, but I can't give the to them because the machinery we use operates with electricity." Leeuskeeter said the municipality had not communicated with her about the blackout.
Assistant branch manager at Buco hardware store Andrew Heard said they were forced to do business manually for two days. He said they'd had to pay extra money to the staff to work extra hours, because the manual process was time-consuming.
"The municipality came and told us that while they were digging for a water pipe, they accidentally hit a power cable," Heard said.
Manager of Penny Pinchers Pierre du Plessis said they had also had to do business manually, at extra staff costs.
Although the electricity was restored yesterday at Penny Pinchers, Du Plessis said he couldn't take chances.
"I have kept the generator outside on standby, just in case the electricity goes out again."
Du Plessis said customers got frustrated when they were told that the machines were not working and must pay in cash. "They just walk out sometimes swearing, because no one carries huge amounts of cash with them."
According to Ramakolo, the municipality lent Siyakubonga funeral directors a diesel generator yesterday. The Sunflower Hospice Shop was still in the dark at the time of publishing.
