The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on the MEC of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA), Bentley Vass, to urgently intervene in the electricity crisis in Koingnaas, where residents and businesses have been without power for 36 days.
The prolonged outage has brought the town to its knees. Businesses have suffered devastating losses, many residents have lost their entire income for July, and livelihoods continue to be destroyed with every passing day. The local café and fuel station, the only fuel outlet within a radius of more than 60 kilometres, can operate for only a few hours each day.
Yesterday afternoon, I attended a meeting with more than 30 deeply frustrated residents. The community has lost all confidence in the Kamiesberg Municipality’s ability to resolve the crisis, particularly as its electricians lack the expertise to repair a high-voltage cable fault. Confidence has been further eroded by the municipality’s financial woes. Kamiesberg Municipality was recently among those unable to pay salaries after National Treasury withheld funding because of serious financial mismanagement.
Despite the municipality’s inaction, the community has refused to give up. Workers from the local mine and bamboo plant have volunteered their time and equipment to excavate the damaged cable, while one resident travelled to Aggeneys at his own expense to hire specialised fault-finding equipment. Residents are now hiring the equipment again today, at their own cost, and have even launched an online auction to raise funds for the parts needed to restore electricity.
Residents should not be forced to finance repairs that are the municipality’s responsibility.
Since the outage began on 27 June, the DA has constantly pressured the Kamiesberg Municipality to act without delay and we want to thank the neighbouring municipality, Nama Khoi, which has made their electricians available. It is, however, clear that provincial intervention can no longer be delayed.
The DA calls on MEC Bentley Vass to urgently provide the technical expertise, operational support and oversight needed to restore electricity to Koingnaas, while ensuring that the Kamiesberg Municipality is held accountable for its continued failure to fulfil its most basic responsibilities.
The people of Koingnaas should not be abandoned by a municipality that has failed them, nor should they be expected to pay out of their own pockets for essential infrastructure repairs. Power must be restored immediately, and those responsible for this prolonged failure must be held accountable.