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Today, 6 July 2023, the DA reached out to the acting City Manager to request that widespread electricity outages across the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality be treated as an emergency after violent protests broke out.

Large sections of the Northern Areas have been crippled due to the municipality’s struggles to deal with temporary electricity connections.

Currently households in wards 13, 31, 32, 34, 35 and 37 are struggling without electricity and frustrated residents have now unfortunately set a container in Stanford Road on fire. This container is the site from where a DA ward councillor conducts her work.

Resident protests continue as power outages persist in the Northern Areas. They are having to throw away expensive food items due to the loss of refrigeration and many people also need a power source for health reasons. The outages are causing untold suffering.

The municipality is not able to deal with all the outages and at the current rate of repair people might still be without electricity for possibly up to two weeks.

It must be treated as an emergency for the Metro to make emergency procurements to address this crisis.

I also advised the acting City Manager that the Metro should possibly reach out to other municipalities surrounding Nelson Mandela Bay to assist them in clearing the current backlog of temporary connections.

Furthermore, I recommended that the Metro must release an official communication to inform residents of the municipality’s plan to deal with the crisis.

The DA will be on the ground and will be fighting to assist to have power restored to our residents. The people of Nelson Mandela Bay deserve better.

Issued by Cllr Retief Odendaal - DA NMB Caucus Leader