Grey Street Outage Enters Second Week as Businesses Count Cost

Grey Street, Queens Drive and parts of Prince Alfred and Ebden Street in Komani have entered Day 11 without electricity, and frustration continues to rise as businesses face mounting financial losses and residents endure daily disruptions.

The area resembles, as several residents described, “a war zone”, with trenches dug across pavements and road edges — some recently filled, others still open — as repair teams dig to replace a damaged underground cable network. Dirt covers much of the trenching work, and businesses say movement around the area has become difficult.

Komani News visited the area on Monday morning, where businesses reported severe pressure as operations remain crippled by the prolonged outage.

Businesses Losing Thousands Daily

A business owner operating in Ebden Street told Komani News that the outage has pushed them to the brink:

“This power outage is costing our business thousands. Working like this is impossible. We have to run generators every day, and the fuel is making everything even worse,” the owner explained.

The business community says the financial impact is becoming unsustainable, especially with December trading normally expected to boost revenue.

Some businesses have also raised concerns about the safety risks associated with exposed trenches, loose soil and ongoing construction activity.

Komani News Reaches Out to Enoch Mgijima Municipality

Komani News reched out to Lonwabo Kowa the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality (EMLM) spokesperson for clarity, but got no response at time of publishing article.

The municipality responded with a public update, confirming that the cable replacement project has encountered several challenges.

Municipality: Trenching Delays and New Cable Installation Underway

In an official communication, EMLM reported the following:

• Portions of Queens Drive, Grey Street, Prince Alfred Street and Ebden Street are affected.

• Ebden Street and Prince Alfred Street were energised, but ongoing intermittent faults have forced technicians to switch off supply while investigations continue.

• Trenching in Grey Street and Queens Drive faced concrete structures and high business activity, slowing progress.

• A new 410-metre cable is now being installed from the Library Substation to the Grey Street mini-substation.

• The municipality said the new cable would take “less time than the old line” to complete.

• Trenching was confirmed to begin today (Monday).

The municipality apologised for the ongoing inconvenience.

However, no estimated completion date has been provided.

Residents Growing Impatient

Residents living in the affected area say living without power for 11 days has been extremely difficult. Many rely on electricity for cooking, heating water, studying and keeping food from spoiling. Several households have thrown away groceries that went off during the outage.

There is also concern about elderly residents and learners preparing for year-end assessments who are unable to reliably charge devices or keep up with online work.

Community members told Komani News that communication must improve, especially when outages exceed several days.

A Community Waiting for Answers

With trenches still visible and heavy repair work continuing, the community now waits for a clearer timeline on when electricity will finally be restored.

Komani News will continue to monitor the situation closely and publish updates as soon as the municipality provides further information.

Businesses and residents are encouraged to send photos, videos and updates to Komani News via WhatsApp at 079 922 8717.