Hofmeyr residents protest over lack of water and power

Residents of Hofmeyr have brought the small  town  to a standstill demanding that water and electricity services be improved.

Protest action occurred through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

Roads were blocked and tyres burnt by  about 200 residents. Municipal buildings were closed as a precaution.

Hofmeyr resident Thulani Vuwana told the Dispatch that  water and electricity issues had plagued the town for more than a year.

“There is a water project which was supposed to bring water  but the project stopped a long time ago. We have constant electricity outages,” he said.

“Since the transformer burnt over the weekend, there is no place with water.

“When we ask Eskom, they say they have an agreement with the municipality to fix the burnt transformer, even though it is an Eskom transformer,” said Vuwana.

Enoch Mgijima municipality spokesperson Lonwabo Kowa  said: “The outages are a result of lightning which struck on Sunday, wrecking electricity infrastructure. Water provision was also affected.

“Hofmeyr electricity is provided by Eskom. We repaired the damage on our side  on Monday.

“Eskom is working around the clock to repair the damage to their transformer. We urge communities to be patient during this period."

Chris Hani district municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mqamelo said severe thunderstorms had affected Hofmeyr, “burning one of our water pumps together with Eskom’s electricity box”.

“This left us operating with one water pump, which is unable to cope in terms of servicing all areas,” she said.