Relief as power returns to Phoenix
Phoenix residents were breathing a sigh of relief after a 40-hour power outage ended on Monday.
Residents from wards 48, 49 and 50 had to endure extended darkness after suffering an entire weekend without electricity.
“We did have a problem on Friday, a team came out, assessed the fault, had it repaired. When officials went to energise the line, they found a further break on the same cable, 50 meters away. So that was Saturday the entire day with no power,” says Ward 50 councillor Tino Pillay.
“On Saturday night a team came out, exposed the cable, repaired it. On Sunday morning, when they went to energise the cable they found a further break.”
Pillay says the outages were due to old failing electricity infrastructure combined with the load shedding surges.
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Some residents took to the streets on Monday morning, closing the Phoenix highway protesting over the lack of power.
Pillay says it was a frustrating weekend for everyone.
“The locals were obviously negatively impacted by this. All I can do it empathise with them in terms of how they suffered because there were elderly people, there were young babies who needed their milk, people who needed their nebulisers. It was really frustrating and traumatic for the public to endure these three days of constant messages, calls and emails and WhatsApps.”
