Electricity will finally be restored to Vulindlela after years of outages caused by transformer failures and illegal connections — news that sent excitement sweeping through a gathering at Nqabeni Community Hall on Thursday. A total of R1,5 million was paid to Eskom to reconnect power in wards 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 39, while Msunduzi Municipality required R1,62 million to restore electricity in wards 1, 2, and 40. Msunduzi Municipality Deputy Mayor Mxolisi Mkhize hailed the intervention by Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi as a positive step.
“Through these efforts, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. Turnaround strategies and partnerships between stakeholders are yielding solutions. I want to assure you that we will get more positive audit outcomes than those we received in the previous financial year.
“We will get an unqualified audit opinion and, from there, we will move to a clean audit. We want to assure you that we are going to work hard.” He encouraged residents to register with government programmes, including indigent support for unemployed and pension-dependent households. “Our biggest challenge is unemployment.
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Many families rely on grants, which sometimes leads to people pursuing illegal activities to make money. “We want people to use available options instead,” Mkhize said. Buthelezi said only 10% of around 18 000 households in Vulindlela pay for electricity.
Fixing electricity will begin this month and the programme will run until April. Eskom will repair 12 transformers, while Msunduzi will reinstall five. “Residents must buy electricity legally to avoid repeated outages. Illegal connections damage infrastructure and affect the economy,” he warned.
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