Businesses donate life-saving generator to Gqeberha disabled centre after crucial medical equipment runs out of power

Residents of Cheshire Homes watch TV while their wheelchairs recharge. (Picture: Supplied)

By Estelle Ellis

25 Aug 2024

It has been three days since an extensive power outage hit Nelson Mandela Bay, leaving large parts of the city without power. At Cheshire Homes in Summerstrand, disabled residents could no longer use their medical alert bells, wheelchairs or phones. But by Sunday afternoon, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s response team had installed a generator and donated diesel for three days.

As residents of Gqeberha entered a third day without electricity in large parts of the city, Cheshire Homes manager Deidre Burger saw the light going out in her residents’ eyes.

Electric wheelchairs were no longer working. Phones were flat and, most worryingly, the medical alert bells that residents use to call nursing staff were also rendered unusable. Residents rely on their phones and the wi-fi to stay in touch with their friends and family as many are not mobile.

Cheshire Homes is in Summerstrand, Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay, which is affected by an extensive power outage that might, according to new estimates, only be rectified in the next seven days.

On Friday, 23 August 2024, gale-force winds blew over four high-voltage pylons. The badly rusted pylons had been earmarked for replacement within the current financial year.

The incident left four municipal wards in the city and key points, like the fire station, several police stations, the state psychiatric hospital, the university and thousands of residents without water. Two wastewater works, Driftsands and Cape Recife, were also left without electricity.

Read more: Parts of Nelson Mandela Bay face 14-day power outage, pylon repairs could take months

Emergency bypasses helped restore electricity to the fire station, from where the joint operations centre is running, the airport and the Humewood and Walmer Police Stations.

But the crisis that emerged on Saturday was that old-age homes, where the disabled and the frail were dependent on electricity, would soon be in deep trouble.

Hope restored

Senior members of the Gqeberha business fraternity, including Angus Clark, plant engineer for Isuzu, and Aspen Pharmaceuticals’ South African operations executive, Christiaan Theron, gave up their Sunday to return to their engineering roots and install generators at two old-age homes in the city.

gqeberha power failure Cheshire Homes The generator is delivered at Cheshire Homes. (Photo: Supplied)

“It was the most amazing thing,” Burger said. “You could see the light and the energy coming back into our residents as well.”

“The kindness has just left me speechless,” she said.

Burger said she was very worried that residents, all severely disabled, no longer had the use of their medical alarm bells used to call nurses.

“Some of our residents are mute, so this really is the only way we know when they need help,” she said.

“A lot of our people also have electric wheelchairs. These are too heavy to push when they run out of power, so we really are so grateful that we can charge these now as well.”

She said the home had a small inverter, but she used that to try to keep everyone’s phones charged and to keep the wi-fi on.

Residents of Cheshire Homes watch TV while their wheelchairs recharge. (Picture: Supplied)

“Now we have a little charging station for wheelchairs and we put the television on the rugby for our residents and they had a really great afternoon,” she said.

“The messages of thanks from our residents were so touching,” she said.

She said she was also worried that the homes’ food would begin to spoil, but this crisis has now also been averted.

“We are just so deeply grateful,” she said.

Another generator was installed at Kingshurst Retirement Apartments.

The Nelson Mandela Bay business chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said they were assisting where they could as part of their disaster response plan.

“Angus and Christiaan took their Sunday to sort out these problems for the old-age homes,” she said. “We have amazing people who care for other people,” Van Huyssteen said.

She confirmed that the generators and the fuel were donated.

Power within seven days

Meanwhile, municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said the municipality now estimates that it can restore full power to the city within seven days.

Soyaya said contractors began excavating holes and planting new poles on Sunday. Eskom’s Eastern Cape team had started installing the steel monopoles and post insulators needed to restore the line.

“All efforts are being accelerated by increasing the workforce and extending work hours. Additional teams from the Western Cape will arrive tomorrow to expedite the process, with work continuing overnight to meet the revised timeline,” he said.

Soyaya said a new transformer, installed at the South End substation, would be running by Tuesday.

“Our key strategic partner, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber, has also come on board in our power restoration efforts and is providing generators to supply alternative power to Cheshire Homes retirement apartments and is installing a second generator at Kingshurst Retirement Apartments.

“We plead for calm and understanding as we work around the clock to restore power supply to all affected areas.”

‘Charging stations’ set up

Spokesperson for Nelson Mandela University, Zandile Mbabela, said while the university had backup power in the form of generators, these were geared toward providing emergency power and could not power all campuses.

She said the university had set up cooking stations and charging points for students. Plumbers were trying to reconnect residences whose water supply had been affected by the outage.

“Further updates on the academic aspect will follow as information becomes available. In the meantime, students who have missed assessments as a result of the power outage are urged to contact their lecturers for alternative arrangements,” she added.

More police patrols

Police spokesperson Captain André Beetge said police stations were following the same procedures that had been implemented for load shedding.

He said generators were used where police stations did not have power.

“In the policing areas where power outages are experienced, more visible policing patrols will be conducted in the affected areas and focus on areas of high crime incidence. In some cases stations and other SAPS units will be assisting the affected stations with extra vehicles and manpower where it is possible.

“The SAPS will do all in its power to ensure safety in our communities and will also have assistance from all its partners such as security sectors, municipal police and traffic services. Community Police Forums and neighbourhood watches will also play their part in assisting SAPS on their own relevant spaces of responsibilities,” he said. DM

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Hope restored

Power within seven days

‘Charging stations’ set up

More police patrols