Prolonged power outages pushing businesses out of Germiston

Prolonged power outages are wreaking havoc in the Germiston area in the Ekurhuleni metro, causing despair for residents and business owners who fear losing their enterprises. 

The latest outage in the area occurred on Tuesday and at the time of publication, electricity had still not been restored.

Business owners and residents said the outages, which usually last for more than seven days, had become a monthly occurrence.

While some blame illegal miners for fiddling with electricity infrastructure, others complained the municipality was not addressing critical problems.

An IT specialist, David Barr, said operating his business without electricity has become unsustainable as he struggles to keep his fibre network working. He said this may force him to close his business as most of his operations are online.

“We have clients who depend on us, and we must find ways to ensure we deliver. We are trying to survive and make sure we don’t lose clients and we depend on a generator to keep the work going and solar backups to ensure internet connectivity,” he said.

As vice-chairperson of the Primrose Ratepayers Association, he has tried to address the issue with the municipality but has been ignored.

“Two weeks ago an online meeting was held with [a municipal official] who is in operations in the electrical department. The purpose of the meeting was to request industry to drop their consumption by 30% ... as this was the reason the load-shedding was taken away by Eskom. Thirty percent to industrial firms is a massive amount and will directly influence the bottom line, so what do SMEs do?”

Mike Dahlia, owner of MSV Auto Parts, said the power outages are the cause of many business closures in the Germiston area.

“We cannot use any machinery like tyre machines and compressors, which means we are paying staff that cannot do any work ... from an admin side customers walk into dark offices which is totally unprofessional, as none of your office equipment is operational as well,” he said.

He added that from a security point of view, alarm and electric fence batteries don't last long, placing them at risk. Cellphone towers are also affected, leaving businesses without a network. 

Dahlia, who has been operating his business in the area for the past 10 years, said power outages had increased in the past two years.

To keep his business going during outages, staff do as much work as they can that doesn’t require machines or equipment.

“Hence businesses are closing. You only do 50% of normal work and turnover, but your overheads like wages and rent stay the same, so you are running at a loss ... how long can anybody run at a loss before closing?”

He said the outages occur close to each other, leaving them without power “for days on end”. 

He complained that the problem was the municipality didn’t provide proper feedback and allegedly do not have standby technicians to work after hours.

“They knock off at 4pm and only restart at 8am which puts any new cables and work done at risk,” he said.

Last week residents and business owners marched to the Ekurhuleni municipal offices to hand over a memorandum of demands, including that the municipality address the prolonged outages. 

One resident, who didn’t want to be named, said the outages were a monthly occurrence and when there was load-shedding it was an ideal time for thieves to steal cables.

“People are starting to get angry now because we have to throw away food. The cost is too high for food that is being lost,” she said.

Piet Coetzer, building manager at Shoprite Centre in Primrose, said retailers were spending about R20,000 each day on diesel. He said Primrose relied on retailers like Shoprite, Pick n Pay and Spar.

“If they leave it will damage the area which is already struggling to cope. The city council is to blame for this,” he said.

“Three weeks ago, the same thing happened for seven days and every time they [the municipality] say Eskom is coming and looking for a fault. We can't go on like this. Companies are going to close down — we are already in a mess. If it goes on this way I don’t know what is going to happen.” 

He added if shops were to close, there would be job losses.

Ward councillor Wendy Morgan said Eskom technicians were on site and power might be fully restored by Monday. She said the latest outage was due to illegal miners operating in the area.

“The thing is the zama zamas are digging all over the show — from the roads to the informal settlements. They are not only damaging electricity, they fiddle with the sewage pipes and they are definitely damaging the municipal infrastructure,” she said.

She said illegal miners were digging underground in residential, industrial and business areas. “This is a huge area that is affected, industrial as well as residential without electricity, we are looking at five to seven days without power if you are lucky. The same happened in June and July.”

She said residents protested last week because they were frustrated about a lack of communication on the outages. “The energy department needs to step up and give us feedback, acknowledge to us that they are aware and what they are doing.” 

Morgan said Eskom supplies the main substation and Ekurhuleni distributes the power to residents and businesses. “This is where there is a problem and that is where we don’t get communication. It has affected four wards.

“You have mixed issues, some of the businesses have moved out, some are just trying to sustain themselves and keep going,” she said.

Eskom said on Friday it had located the fault that led to a power outage in the Germiston North area. 

“Work to restore power is under way. Testing is being conducted to ensure that there are no further faults before repair work can commence,” said Gauteng Eskom spokesperson Amanda Qithi.

Municipal spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said outages were dealt with as and when they occur. He said the main cause was cable theft but they also experience system failures sometimes, which they respond to as and when they occur.

When asked about the protest and if the council received the memorandum, he said the municipality had a process for handling memorandums.

“This memorandum will go through to the petitions committee and each department will be directed to deal with their issues and report back to the committee on the progress, which shall be shared with the petitioners,” he said.

“A full response in terms of our plans going forward will be shared with the community in the near future.”

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