Keith Blake, far right, is seen here with City electricity department officials, from left, Tony Bezuidenhout, Lesley Africa and Warren Quimpo. Picture: Supplied
Keith Blake, Ottery
On Saturday April 22, a very cold morning, my wife, Tina, told me that our elderly neighbour was very upset because she had no electricity and the fault seemed unrelated to load shedding.
While I realised it was Eid and that many services and businesses were likely to be closed, I nevertheless sent a service request, along with the neighbour’s contact details, to the City's electricity department. I also notified ward councillor William Akim about the electricity emergency.
Within 30 minutes, the neighbour WhatsApped me to say electricity department officials were at her home. I went out to meet them, and they showed me a cable connection was cut. They said technicians would be called out to attend to it.
Not long after this, I was told the team was on site and busy with major repairs. I went out to meet this team and was assured the electricity to the neighbour would be restored, and it was.
This is an example of how service delivery should be dealt with and is in total contrast to what is happening in other provinces.