By Malebo Pheme
Since the Easter weekend, Makhanda residents have faced increasingly frequent and prolonged power outages, some lasting over 16 hours, causing widespread disruption and frustration. The blackouts have become a near-daily occurrence, with no clear explanations or consistent communication from the municipality, leaving residents and businesses in the dark, literally and figuratively.
Local electrician and electrical services manager Willem Nell says the outages are more than just a symptom of cable faults. They reflect deeper, long-standing infrastructure issues. “Cable breakdowns between substations are common, but honestly, I don’t think it’s the municipality,” Nell said. “It’s the maintenance that’s not being done on them.”
Nell, who has worked on various local repair jobs, explained that the delays are often due to a shortage of essential parts and equipment. “In the last three weeks, we were out for two or three days due to the Victoria Girls High School transformer,” he said. “They don’t have the parts. They wait for East London or even other towns to supply them. That’s why things take so long.”
He added that a lack of skilled high-voltage technicians further hampers response efforts. “Some of these guys can only work on low voltage. There are only a few qualified for high-voltage work, and when they’re not around, repairs don’t happen.”
Cable theft is also on the rise, exacerbated by scheduled load-shedding. “It’s become easy for thieves,” said Nell. “They use load-shedding apps to see when the power’s out, then steal the cables.” These thefts extend outage durations and strain limited resources even further.
The Makhanda municipality spokesperson, Anele Mjekula, said, “In most cases, the vandalism of substations and cable theft is the cause for a lot of the power outages. However, other issues can be attributed to this, such as weather or contractors breaking underground cables while doing unrelated work.” He further explained, “The municipality would like to urge residents to report any suspicious activity in their area to the authorities. The municipality is trying to find permanent solutions to address vandalism through partnerships with the safety and security cluster.”
Despite these setbacks, Nell praised the dedication of municipal electricians working under increasingly difficult conditions. “They’re doing the best they can,” he said. “But without the proper resources and parts, they can’t fix things efficiently. Quick fixes today lead to bigger failures tomorrow.”
Without consistent electricity, many residents and businesses have turned to private solutions. “A lot of people are getting solar panels or inverters just to survive,” Nell said. “Some businesses have gone completely solar. They had no other choice. They couldn’t operate otherwise.”
However, collaboration between private electricians and the municipality remains minimal. “They have meetings now and then, but communication is limited,” Nell said. “It’s tough. Everyone’s trying to manage with what little they have.”
“These guys are doing the impossible to keep things running,” Nell said. “But without proper maintenance and investment, the problem isn’t going anywhere.”
