Stuck in the mud: farmers rescue bogged down Eskom repair teams

’n Boer maak ’n plan (a farmer makes a plan) as they say in Afrikaans and that is exactly what farmers near Modimolle did after a massive storm left Eskom technicians stuck in the mud.

The power utility thanked local farmers for helping their repair teams who got stuck on the way to repairing power lines in the area.

"Almost 100mm of rain fell within an hour, making roads wet, muddy and extremely difficult to drive on," Eskom said in a statement on Monday.

The power utility had sent repair teams to fix damaged power lines but they got stuck on the Witklip farm near Modimolle in Limpopo.

The Eskom teams asked farmer Johann Abrie for help. When he saw the trucks, he realised the job required special equipment and he called neighbouring farmers Arno du Toit and Hector Mountany.

"They pulled their tractors out of their crop fields and came to our assistance."

The tractors pulled the Eskom trucks out of the mud and moved them to the broken power lines. After the lines were repaired, the tractors towed the Eskom trucks back to safety.

"The operation lasted well into the night. The farmers took over the entire salvage operation." Eskom said they would not have been able to restore power without the farmers’ help.

Abrie said: "We farmers have to make a living under extremely difficult conditions in order to feed our nation, but when called upon to do our civic duty for the greater good of our people, we don’t blink an eye."