Vanderkloof, the picturesque town situated on the banks of South Africa's second largest dam with which it shares its name, is once again affected by power punishment due to non-payment to Eskom even though the town's residents are some of the best and most loyal payers for services in the Municipality.
This follows shortly after a new municipal council was elected for the Renosterberg Local Municipality (Petrusville, Philipstown, Vanderkloof) on 11 November. Business owners in the town have decided to take swift legal action, with the FF Plus playing a key role, seeing as the drawn-out political process is apparently not achieving the desired outcomes.
Part of the problem is an outstanding Eskom account that amounts to more than R80 million, which has been the reason why "power punishment" was imposed on Vanderkloof and Keurtjieskloof in the past as well. Power punishment is when internal load shedding is implemented and every consumer only has power supply for eight hours every day.
According to reports it seems that this time, it will mean that Vanderkloof will also only have water for three hours per day seeing as electricity is needed to pump and purify the water.
The bitter irony for residents of Vanderkloof and Keurtjieskloof is that their payment rate is the highest in the Municipality.
Tourism is an important part of Vanderkloof's economy. Power and water cuts do not only cause direct damage to the town's business sector, but also have a negative effect on tourism – after a year during which the Covid-19 lockdown already delivered a severe blow to the tourism industry. It is quite realistic to claim that these measures may jeopardise the survival of the town if decisive action is not taken now.
Fortunately, decisive action is precisely what Lorna Myburgh, businesswoman and branch chairperson of the FF Plus in Vanderkloof, is busy with. Legal action was instituted against Eskom on behalf of a group of business owners in the town. The power giant allegedly did not follow the prescribed steps before reducing the power supply.
In addition, the newly elected municipal council will have to explain why the necessary arrangements were not made with Eskom in time. This negligence undermines any faith one may have had in the council's future functioning.
The FF Plus is also busy following up on its complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC). A complaint was lodged with the HRC because residents of Vanderkloof and Keurtjieskloof are being deprived of basic services despite the fact that they are paying for those services and the technical ability to deliver those services does exist.
The complaint was put on ice when the municipal council was dissolved, but it now seems that the HRC needs to reactivate it.
As part of a long-term solution, the FF Plus wants to encourage the residents of Vanderkloof and all other towns in the country to find a way to meet their power needs themselves. Solar panels drastically reduce individual municipal accounts and will prevent the outstanding Eskom account from accumulating any further. If these panels are combined with batteries, is it more expensive but it offers a buffer against power cuts and outages.
The government is failing more and more and nowhere are the consequences more evident than on municipal level. Citizens have no other choice but to buffer themselves against this failing government.
