Page 2 - Amanda Timms News Today

Motorists are faced with the double whammy of load-shedding and ongoing cable theft that are turning rush hour on the metro's busiest roads into a nightmare.

Buffalo City Metro is spending millions of rand from its maintenance budget to keep the lights on as theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure cripple the city.

Fireman have blamed load-shedding for their phones being down after five buildings around a family home in Gonubie's Mzamomhle township went up in flames late on Sunday night.

East London residents living close to popular beaches are going to be hit with road closures this weekend as the city is expecting around 10,000 people to flock to the sea.

Residents of Quenera, in Gonubie, have had no electricity for several days because power poles in the area were vandalised after a service delivery protest by residents occupying neighbouring RDP homes. Eskom employees sent to repair the damaged poles and restore electricity to the area have been chased away, allegedly by members of the neighbouring community, who are also suspected of damaging the poles.

If your lights or water go off unexpectedly at night in parts of Buffalo City you are on your own. Several areas in the metro have become so dangerous that city staff are not prepared to provide services there at night in fear for their own safety. So serious has the problem become that the metro has made a list of “no-go areas” where it says it might not be able to send its officials when there is an electricity or water outage due to safety concerns.

Just weeks away from the 15th anniversary of when SA was first subjected to rotational power cuts, the country was hammered on Sunday by the implementation of stage 6 load-shedding. Making matter worse, Eskom has also disclosed that it will be seeking a 32% electricity tariff hike next year. The embattled state power utility’s CEO, Andre de Ruyter, said it was doing everything it could to prevent a “total system collapse”.

Women in blue in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality are making their mark and ensuring safer communities

Criminals are ripping off the Eastern Cape’s infrastructure in well-organised cable theft heists that have left state property in ruins, with repair bills running into the tens of millions of rand. The Buffalo City Metro (BCM) said last year it would cost more than R22m to repair the damaged infrastructure.

Florence Jansen is one of the East Londoners who tried to help homeless 15-year-old Sihle Ndaweni* turn his life around.