UNRELIABLE POWER SUPPLY ATTRIBUTED TO VANDALISM: MAP

By Emily Setona

QWAQWA – When a community does not appreciate the basic services that their tax affords them, then they might have a higher price to pay.

According to a media release from Maluti- a- Phofung’s (MAP) communication office on the 24^th of July, the frequent problems with electricity going on and off in various areas in the community is largely because of acts of vandalism. Most of MAP’s substations are not operating at their optimal level because when technicians visit the sites to assess how best to implement the normalisation and refurbishing plans, they arrive to find horrendous acts of vandalism.

This local municipality has already established a program to refurbish 9 of its 37 substations. The 9 substations that have been prioritized pose the most challenges when it comes to the whole system of electricity supply. Normalization is a process whereby MAP technicians visit substation sites to assess the extent of the damage done by people tampering with equipment and tracing where all the illegal connections come from.  Instead of the projected budget focusing primarily on fixing infrastructure and maintaining substations. Monies have to be allocated to continuously replacing stolen and burnt equipment. The infrastructure is already in dire need of repair and proper maintenance. The municipality pleads with the community to report any acts of vandalism to their nearest SAP stations.

Further details and information regarding the intended plans to refurbish these substations will be communicated in due time. To better deal with this situation community members should abstain from tampering with electricity connections and making illegal connections. Community members should allow the projected plans to go on uninterrupted by stopping these irresponsible acts of vandalism. Failure to act within the correct legal framework will result in communities having to pay a higher price than the inconvenient and continuous on and off electricity supply that is already a problem.