Large parts of Ermelo were left without electricity from Friday afternoon until late Sunday afternoon, following an unplanned outage that the Msukaligwa Local Municipality only acknowledged publicly on Saturday, 30 August. In a brief statement posted on its official Facebook page, the municipality confirmed that portions of the town were affected and that technicians were working to restore supply “as quickly and safely as possible.”
The outage, which lasted nearly two full days in some areas, caused widespread disruption to households, businesses, and essential services. Residents expressed frustration that no clear explanation was provided for the prolonged blackout, with many pointing to the lack of communication during the crucial first 24 hours. Some community members also reported being unable to reach the municipal call centre to log complaints or request updates.
Speculation has since emerged that the service interruption and lack of municipal response may have been linked to an internal labour dispute. Rumours circulating in the community suggest that municipal employees had downed tools in protest against recent cuts in overtime, which allegedly left critical services and the call centre understaffed during the outage. At this stage, however, these claims remain unconfirmed.
iNews has reached out to the Msukaligwa Local Municipality for clarity on the cause of the outage and the alleged strike action, but no response had been received at the time of publication.