The Western Cape government will give millions to municipalities for procuring emergency diesel generators and so on for water treatment, distribution and systems during long periods of load shedding.
A total of R88 million will be distributed among the province’s 21 municipalities, and Drakenstein Municipality will benefit from a whopping R6 million.
Our country has experienced the crippling effects of load shedding for more than 100 days now, and its continuation is unavoidable. But what took the local government so long to avail these funds? Why let us suffer so long?
Load shedding has left municipal service delivery severely hampered. Services have been mostly unavailable during load shedding due to switchboard problems. There has also been a real concern over our water quality.
Other services to the public, such as traffic control and Home Affairs, have often come to a standstill after the lights have gone out. A municipal territory that regards itself as a city coming to a virtual standstill during load shedding is quite simply unthinkable.
And one cannot help but wonder, with the bureaucratic red tape with which the municipality concludes its business, how long it will take before it uses these funds to acquire necessary alternative electricity generation?
