Capital Park residents face prolonged outages as winter approaches

What has happened in Capital Park

According to the report, parts of Capital Park experienced a cycle of outages in which power was off for four days, returned for about 14 hours, then went out again for five days.

Old infrastructure and no maintenance

DA councillor Leon Kruyshaar told The Citizen that some cables in the area are between 40 and 70 years old and that there has been no maintenance of the infrastructure.

Safety and street-lighting concerns

The lack of reliable power has affected safety systems. Kruyshaar said alarms run out and there is no backup battery power. DA Ward 58 candidate counsellor Bongani Gama highlighted the lack of street lights, and said criminals steal cables, which causes further outages.

Impact on households and businesses

Residents and small business owners described financial and practical hardships. Capital Park Ratepayers Association’s Neels Meiring voiced concern about rising demand in winter and the effect of current outages on businesses such as guesthouses, which were losing guests who checked out early because of power cuts.

Food vendors and small enterprises reported direct losses. The Citizen quoted Annetjie van der Merwe, who sells frozen homecooked meals, saying she could not freeze meals during outages and had to throw food away. The report also quoted Isazi Propshaft & Battery Pro owner Hansie Jansen van Rensburg saying his business was without power for three days and that every day without power costs about R2 500 for the generator.

City response and broader concerns

DA Tshwane spokesperson on utilities councillor Themba Fosi attributed the collapses in regional electricity infrastructure to mismanagement of the city’s infrastructure, according to The Citizen.

Residents worry as winter nears

Meiring told The Citizen he is concerned about what to expect in July if outages are already happening now and demand increases in winter.

Notes

Source: The Citizen https://www.citizen.co.za/news/winter-fears-grow-as-capital-park-battles-endless-power-cuts/