Distobotla municipal spokesperson Pius Batsile said the electricity challenges of the past two weeks are due to the vandalisation of one of Eskom transformers at the Lichtenburg substation. It’s understood the electricity crisis also led to water shortages due to a lack of power supply in some of the reservoirs.

‘The municipality has been implementing local rotational loadshedding’

Batsile said Eskom had taken steps to address the matter by procuring a new transformer delivered from Mpumalanga on Saturday (5/8). Progress in installing it has been made. “To give relief to affected areas the municipality has been implementing local rotational loadshedding while we are still waiting for the installation of the new Eskom transformer. It might take place either on Friday or Saturday.” 

AfriForum's District Coordinator for Marico, Armand Viljoen, said the water issues in Ditsobotla and other surrounding areas are a result of old infrastructure challenges. He slammed the municipality for neglecting crucial pipelines for years. He said municipalities such as the Ngaka Molema District Municipality failed to resolve these issues despite the recent court order issued to immediately attend to water issues.

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