Masilo Projects to refurbish the low voltage unites in Ward one

The Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality introduced the contractor who will be responsible for the restoration of low voltage unites in Ward 1. This is due to a number of activities that seem to be escalating within the ward which subsequently affect the constant flow of electricity. With this project the municipality aims to measure its impact in comparison with the challenges that are occasionally caused by electricity. Working in close relation with the contractor the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality can counteract all the underlying factors that affect all the villages in ward 1 (one).

The honorable Mayor T.D Mafumbatha handed over the project to Masilo projects at the Mbizana Library on Wednesday the 5^th of July 2023 and urged the ward councilors to continue working diligently as they form part and parcel of how the overall local municipality performs. She also pointed out that for business people this is a year of rain and the beauty is in the fact that the number of projects taking place in WMMLM elevate poverty and the level of unemployment.

Understanding why the municipality is not making profit is a non-negotiable question that the municipality should be able to answer, the project will aid the municipality in answering such questions and make sure that people who pay rates are getting value for money and in. – Cllr T.D Mafumbatha

Ward councilors raised concerns on behalf of the people due to the fact that a number of households have outdated meter boxes and some have more than one box per household.  Mr. Mqina shared that the municipality is trying to reduce a number of meters boxes per household and community members are advised to at least upgrade from 20kw to 60kw which will assist in carrying the load better.

Touching the scope of the project

The three million four hundred and ninety-one, nine hundred and forty-five rand will focus on Changing 9-meter poles, replacing small cables with thicker cables (35mm cables) and change the single-phase cables to at least three phase cable to avoid things like constant power outages.

Project manager Mosa Masilo shared with Pondoland Times that even though it is not a big project it will be able to assist a number of unemployed youth and assist those with skill attain a more working experience.

He also outlined that he is aware of challenges that could affect the time frame of the project and such things could be: lead time when procuring the material, social politics if brought to the working environment and lack of commitment from local beneficiaries.