Despite community uproar over long-standing power failures and infrastructure neglect in Ward 90, the eThekwini Municipality maintains that theft and vandalism are the primary culprits—and that temporary fixes are all they can offer for now.
This comes after The Merebank and Chatsworth Tabloid published residents’ concerns about the limited impact of Operation Gijima in Isipingo. While the initiative brought short-term interventions—like drain clearing and illegal electricity disconnections—residents said the deeper service delivery crisis had been left unresolved.
Gugu Sisilana, eThekwini Municipality Spokesperson said: “The electricity crisis in Isipingo is being driven by persistently high levels of electrical infrastructure theft and vandalism. Temporary switch pillars have been installed in place of stolen or damaged distributor substations, but these do not provide adequate electrical protection, resulting in continued outages and surges”.
This directly echoes the lived experience of Pardy Road resident Muhammad Baaqir Rahaman, who previously told The Merebank and Chatsworth Tabloid that his property has been without stable electricity for months.
He said: “It’s not just load-shedding—it’s faulty infrastructure. I’ve suffered over R300,000 in damages and still have no resolution.”
While Rahaman accused the City of silence and inaction—saying he’d sent more than 50 emails with no meaningful response—Sisilana noted that “technical teams are actively responding to faults as they occur, and that a new contract for integrated substation security is being secured to better safeguard municipal infrastructure in the long term”.
In response to complaints about medium-voltage cable failures and unexplained overload trips, Sisilana attributed these to “abnormal network conditions, and teams are monitoring and repairing these issues as needed”.
Sisilana also addressed confusion over water availability in the ward. While residents reported inconsistent supply, she clarified that there is “no formal water shedding schedule, however there is a water rationing schedule” in place.
As Isipingo residents continue to voice concerns over failing infrastructure, safety, and accountability, the municpilaty’s message is clear: the system is under siege, and temporary fixes may be all that’s possible until broader protection measures are put in place.
Whether that will be enough to restore public confidence remains to be seen. For now, residents say they are still left navigating uncertainty—one blackout at a time.
