Rehoboth up in arms over power outages

Residents of Rehoboth are outraged over regular power outages the town has been experiencing since last month.

Some residents say they have experienced losses – their electric appliances have been damaged, they have had to change important plans and food has spoiled during the persistent interruptions.

“In Block G, the electricity went off yesterday evening, and only came back on this morning. This is not right,” Sally Beukes, a resident says.

The Rehoboth Town Council (RTC) has, however, taken to social media platforms explaining power outages on 18 and 19 August.

On 18 August, it stated: “Dear residents, we are experiencing power outages in various areas due to unforeseen circumstances. The team is hard at work to repair and restore power as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience caused.”

On 19 August, it stated: “Dear residents, we are experiencing power outages in some parts of blocks A, B, C, D and Oanob Dam due to repairs on powerlines as a result of unforseen breakages and accidents on some transformers and powerlines that occurred yesterday. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

Megan Smith, another resident, says the town council must solve the problem.

“This is not fair. It is causing us stress. In today’s life, one can hardly live without electricity. Last night, the electrity went off before my family prepared dinner.

“We had to sleep without having something to eat. The electricity only came on the next morning. My schoolchildren had to get dressed in the dark, and it was very challenging.

“It is very dangerous to prepare food outside the house with firewood during times of power outages as criminals often target homes to sell,” she says.

Cyril Classen says he is not pleased, because he has to constantly change his plans.

He says the town council should notify residents of outages in advance.

“I would plan one thing and then cannot do it any more. It is not fair. I do think we as residents deserve much better. Crime at Rehoboth is high, so we have to rather lock the doors and go to sleep early.”