PMB residents face Christmas without power for 6 months
It’s a bleak festive season for frustrated residents of Cinderella Park in Maritzburg who say they've been without electricity for around half a year.
They say Umsunduzi Municipality removed their transformer towards the end of May, telling them it had an oil leak and needed to be fixed.
They say it still hasn’t been replaced.
This affected local says the most vulnerable members of their community have been suffering the most – while schoolchildren recently had to study for exams in the dark.
A resident says they have had houses burn down because of candle use. "We have had our frail people ill because most of them need medication refrigerated. We have to throw away our food, while others are in festive mode, we sit in our home stressed. We have nothing bought in our home because it will go off."
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She says their numerous efforts and pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears. " We have marched and protested to the municipality, to the Premier's Office and we were promised help. Up until today still no help.
Our councillor told us that if the community signs the amnesty forms before Christmas our transformer will be brought back. I personally took 92 amnesty forms into the municipality yesterday, I was given stories.
She when she asked them about the transformer - they told were told to take it up with the councillor.
Newswatch has reached out to Ward 34 Councillor Roy Ram and Msunduzi Municipality for comment.
