When the electricity went off at around 05:00 hours on Saturday morning, no one expected that Ghanzi Township would go for two days without electricity.
The supply was only restored on Sunday night at around 21:00 hours.
As the clock continued to tick on Saturday without any sign of electricity coming back, visits to the restaurants by those who rely on electricity for cooking became frequent.
But others still hang on hoping that the utility would be back before the end of the day.
But this turned out be to their disappointment.
Evening crept in, still with no sign of electricity. It was then that the residents began to fear for the worst.
Those who had cash in their pockets, those who did not have to rely on the ATMs to draw money, trooped to the shops, not to buy ready food this time around.
They were then preparing for a stretched period of time without electricity. A lot of them bought gas stoves and cylinders.
To add salt to injury, water taps went dry as well because the township is fed from electricity-driven boreholes.
For a while the whole town was gripped by fear as the second day came to a close with no indication that the supply would be restored.
Ghanzi District gets its electricity supply from Omaere Power Station in Namibia.
However, Only Ghanzi Township and some surrounding areas of DKar and Kuke were affected by this power cut.
A brief round up by the BOPA team earlier on Sunday raked up tales of disillusionment and sadness, especially among business people.
Shop owners counted their losses,as fresh products such as milk and meat were to be taken out of the shelves.
Most of the things such as meat and fish are going bad, Ghanzi Spar manager, Mr Johan Taljaard said.
Mr Taljaard told BOPA this was the longest power cut they had ever experienced.
The township should have a backup system such that situations like this never happen again. Also since there is no portable water supply, people might resort to drinking any water, resulting in some disease outbreak, he said. The manager for Bonanza Supermarket, Mr Davis Nkiwane had a similar experience.
We are badly affected especially at the butchery section. We are not able to use the cutting machine and we are now selling plain meat without bones. People prefer meat with bones, but unfortunately we are only able to sell steak, Mr Nkiwane said, adding that they did not get any information from BPC concerning the power cut.
Atleast they could have notified us and keep us updated on the matter, he said.
Speaking to BOPA on Monday, BPC marketing and communications manager, Ms Thomamiso Selato, said though the electricity was back, they still had not identified the problem, adding that they were still waiting for a correspondence on the matter from their counterparts in Namibia.
Ms Selato said only the transmission line that supplied Ghanzi township and surrounding areas such as DKar and Kuke was affected. She said it had been difficult for their counterparts in Namibia to identify the fault because of the rainfall. She said before they got supply from Namibia, they used to supply electricity in Ghanzi township by means of generators and that proved expensive.
Ms Selato apologised to their customers for the inconvenience caused and urged the public to use electricity wisely.
Ms Selato also cautioned them to always have a back-up power to turn to during hard times. Even some government departments such as the Prisons department did not have the electricity backup system. BOPA
No comments:
Post a Comment