Speaking with simmering rage, an Erasmia pastry chef, who makes a living selling baking creations has launched a scathing attack against council officials claiming she lost approximately R60 000 worth of food, as a result of continuous electricity disruptions.
Pauline Wedy of Skurweberg Street, told the Laudium Sun that council officials dragged their feet when it came to sorting out electricity issues in the area and as a result her home business, which relied on refrigeration, has suffered tremendously.
"I have lost expensive ingredients like butter and puff pastry. Even my normal every day groceries like meat and vegetables had to be thrown out after days of no power," Pauline claimed. The 51-year-old businesswoman continued that the problem with constant power failure at her house started last November. She said that a council worker had eventually arrived to attend to the problem, but peculiarly had done so at 2am and she suspects without doing a proper job as she suffered another power cut in December. "It seemed to me they just put tape on the cables. Then, two days after Christmas there was another power cut which put a damper on our festive mood. Electricity was only restored after three days," the visibly upset resident fumed.
Then, again this past Sunday, January 28, Pauline said they experienced another power failure and called the council to report this. Pauline claims that while she was reassured that they would come immediately to rectify the problem, they were really a no show.
She told the Laudium Sun that she has references of the call that she made to the council. She continued that her daughter and her husband then attempted to call the council again and again and did so more that fifteen times, but still to no avail.
Pauline said it was highly frustrating trying to run a business when the infrastructure was not right. She said, as a pastry chef, she has to purchase her ingredients well in advance and had done so, to the value of approximately R60 000. The most painful thing for her, she said, was having to throw away so much food after it went bad as a result of no refrigeration.
Pauline added that the safety of her and her family was now also thrown into the mix. Lack of electricity meant that her alarm system was not activated. "Erasmia is now riddled with crime, especially burglaries. Many criminals take advantage of the situation when they see a house with no electricity. You just need to read the Laudium Sun, about the crime in our area.
I don't think these council guys understand how badly the power failure affected my business. I cannot get hold of my customers because my cell phone cannot work, without being charged. The battery died and I just couldn't charge it. I then had to travel quite a distance to my daughter's place to charge the cell phone. This is frustrating knowing that I pay my electricity bills every month. Life without electricity is hard especially when you are running a business which depends on electricity," the exasperated Pauline said.
Ward 61 councillor, Mahomed Essop, said that council officials worked hard to restore the electricity adding that the power was restored on Tuesday, (January 30).
Angry pastry chef: Pauline Wedy said most of her food went off because of constant electricity disruptions.
The Erasmia house on Skurweberg Street that suffered repeated power cuts.