The City of Cape Town’s Energy Directorate is pleased that repair work to infrastructure which was damaged during a fire in Langa on Saturday, 16 April 2022, has started.

‘Work is under way to reconnect those who were affected by the fire to the grid. The low voltage backbone was completed on 4 May 2022 at a cost of R460 000. It is foreseen that the installation of overhead connections and prepaid meters will commence soon and will cost an estimated R1 million.

‘We’re pleased with the support and cooperation of the community as we move to improve the living conditions of the fire-affected households. These households in Langa form part of a larger reconnection drive of households across the metro that have been cut off from electricity supply due to fire. City teams will do their best to complete this work as soon as possible over the coming weeks. In City-supplied areas, where practically and legally possible, almost 100% of longer existing informal settlements have been connected to electricity,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Councillor Beverley van Reenen

After the fire, the City’s Human Settlements and Urban Waste Directorate teams, as well as the Disaster Management Department assisted with the registration process, debris removal and site clearance as well as enabling soft relief.

‘This has been a team effort and we thank all our City teams for the work to enable the electricity connection. We encourage community leaders, organisations and residents to help us prevent the occurrence of fires such as this one, which can mostly be prevented if flames are not left unattended. The City will continue its awareness drives and other interventions to reduce the instances of fires in informal settlements. We remain committed to our most vulnerable residents,’ said Councillor Van Reenen.

Source: City Of Cape Town