The Randburg Service Delivery Centre (SDC) has expressed its condolences to the family of a young child who tragically passed away due to the effects of loadshedding.
On Friday, it was reported that a three-year-old girl with Woree Syndrome, a rare neurodevelopmental disorder causing drug-resistant epilepsy and global developmental delay, died when the inverter powering her breathing machine ran out of power during a period of load shedding.
Tragically, on Thursday, the young child succumbed to her condition while being held in her mother’s arms.
According to the mother, she attempted to use a backup battery-operated nebulizer to alleviate her daughter’s condition, providing some relief. Although electricity was restored briefly after the initial loadshedding, it went out again after four hours.
Isaac Mangena, the spokesperson for the SDC, expressed sympathy for the family during this challenging time and acknowledged the hardships faced by many families due to the impact of load shedding. Mangena highlighted the severity of the national crisis when lives are lost as a consequence.
“Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult period.
“We were made aware of the incident by the media. Unfortunately, the impact of loadshedding implemented by Eskom is hitting families hard, where many have lost livelihoods and appliances. It is hard even for us when lives also get lost because of this national crisis,” he said.
Mangena further stated that City Power, the local electricity provider, recognizes the concerns raised by residents regarding recurring power outages in the Bromhof area and is working on a plan to address the issue.
Added Mangena: “City Power acknowledges resident’s concerns about recent recurring outages in the Bromhof area and working a plan to resolve this problem. 25 May 2023, part of Bromhof had a planned maintenance from 08:00 – 16:00, which is necessary to service our equipment and stabilise our network.
“During outages, we always keep residents updated with developments to restore the power supply. In the case of medical conditions, City Power cannot guarantee an uninterrupted power supply, therefore, encourages residents with medical conditions to have backup system or plans to keep their devices on at all times.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, Eskom, the state-owned power utility, announced the implementation of varying stages of loadshedding throughout the weekend. Stage 3 load shedding was initiated from 5am on Saturday and would be escalated to stage 5 from 4pm until 5am on Sunday.
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