PETITION REQUESTING ADDITIONAL STAFF AND OVERTIME: KEMPTON ENERGY DEPARTMENT & BENONI ENERGY DEPARTMENT

Introduction

The residents of Ward 25 have suffered numerous power outages as a result of the ageing infrastructure in the ward that has had little to no maintenance for over the last 20+ years.

Not enough funds have been allocated to maintenance in the budget to maintain/ upgrade our electricity grid and as a result, it would now cost in the region of R200 million per Ward just to upgrade and repair the electricity infrastructure.

The deterioration of infrastructure is compounded by daily loadshedding which is causing further damage to our already ailing electricity infrastructure. Our infrastructure is not designed for the constant on/off of loadshedding.

The constant outages after loadshedding ends are just one symptom of the damage being caused to our infrastructure.

Eskom controls loadshedding, not the City of Ekurhuleni, as such, Ekurhuleni staff are not authorised/permitted to work on the Eskom infrastructure. This delays electricity repair and reconnection timelines (If it is an Eskom fault).

A further challenge faced is that we do not have a standby team on duty between 17:30PM and 07:30AM as a result of staff vacancies and the containment measures placed on the overtime work.

We, therefore, request the residents of Ward 25 to rally behind our effort by signing our petition requesting the City of Ekurhuleni to:

1. Increase overtime work or remove/ extend the cap on overtime work.

2. Introduce a shift system.

3. Fill all critical funded vacant posts in the Energy Department, more especially at depot level.

Cllr. Danie Putter (Ward Councilllor) and Cllr. Nina McFarlane (PR Councillor)

Ward 25

Democratic Alliance Ekurhuleni    Contact the author of the petition