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The ongoing municipal workers’ strike is delaying critical repairs to electricity infrastructure across Pietermaritzburg, leaving residents and businesses in several suburbs without power for days and, in some cases, over a week.

Lower Northdale, Raisethorpe, parts of Allandale, World’s View, Wembley, Clarendon and Prestbury are among the areas affected by prolonged outages as the strike continues to disrupt municipal operations and severely limit the City’s ability to respond to faults.

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In lower Northdale, some residents have been without electricity for at least four days due to a fault at the Lahore Road Substation, while other areas have experienced repeated outages with repairs either delayed or incomplete.

Ward councillor Rooksana Ahmed said residents are becoming increasingly distressed as the strike continues to hamper repair efforts.

“The entire ward, which includes residents and businesses, has been affected by the outage. Innes Avenue was without electricity for seven days and power was only restored on Wednesday, only for it to go off again on Thursday,” said Ahmed.

It has been almost 12 days without electricity in the Newholmes area.

She said repairs to the Lahore Road substation have stalled because the municipality does not currently have access to the necessary technical capacity.

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“Our residents are struggling without basic service delivery. Repairs at the Lahore Road Substation cannot be completed because a qualified artisan is needed to conduct the repairs,” she said.

The prolonged outages have placed growing pressure on households and businesses, many of which are facing financial losses, operational disruptions and the daily challenges associated with extended periods without electricity.

The DA’s Msunduzi caucus has linked the mounting backlog of faults directly to the ongoing labour dispute.

Caucus leader Ross Strachan said the strike has crippled the municipality’s ability to maintain critical services.

“We remain deeply concerned by the ongoing labour action that has effectively brought critical water and electricity services to a standstill across large parts of the city,” said Strachan.

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He said the caucus had engaged directly with the Municipal Manager, calling for additional support from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and emergency measures to address the growing backlog of electricity and water outages.

“We have also raised the need for the municipality to consider declaring a local state of disaster should service delivery conditions continue to deteriorate,” he said.

Strachan added that concerns over intimidation and security risks have further complicated efforts to restore services.

“Recognising the serious security concerns surrounding ongoing operations, we have engaged through the office of Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi with General Makoba, who will be on standby this weekend.”

We have urged SAPS to increase its presence and capacity on the ground to ensure public safety, protect critical infrastructure and allow municipal employees and technical teams to carry out their duties without intimidation or disruption.

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“The situation remains extremely hostile, particularly for employees and officials who are willing to work. Reports of intimidation and threats are deeply concerning.”

Msunduzi Municipality acknowledged that the strike remains unresolved and continues to have a significant impact on service delivery across the city.

The municipality said discussions between management and organised labour are expected to resume on Monday in an effort to reach a resolution.

“Despite these challenges, available personnel and management teams continue to work under difficult circumstances to maintain essential services and respond to critical incidents.”

“However, operational capacity remains severely constrained, resulting in delays in responding to reported faults and service interruptions,” the municipality said.

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It added that while efforts are being made to address critical outages, the strike has left the municipality unable to respond to faults within normal timeframes, prolonging outages and frustrating residents already grappling with deteriorating service delivery.