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90 000 COPIES WEEKLY WEDNESDAY November 26, 2014 |0 041 503 6111 | Email express@media24.com | www.peexpress.co.za |
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EDITOR: BETTIE GILIOMEE
Omelela (9) the honorary firefighter
Not many little boys get the opportunity to be a firefighter for the day. Little Omelela Fongqo (9), who suffers from a lifethreatening illness, had his dream of being a firefighter realised with the Reach For A Dream foundation last week. Showing him the ropes is firefighter Thozama Masala. Read more about Omelela’s day as a firefighter on page 13. PHOTO: TANYA VAN ZYL
Outages hits businesses hard LIZEKA TANDWA
T
HE Nelson Mandela Bay Metro Municipality’s service provider appointed to deal with cable theft and electricity losses, Amat, said since their launch in July they have not been able to implement their strate-
gy on cable theft reduction due to a “bottle neck” in the municipality.
This while cable theft and subsequent power outages are continuing to be a huge problem for businesses and manufacturers in the metro. According to a recent Metro Minutes report, Ford’s PE engine plant had suffered 90
power outages in the past 12 months, resulting in a loss of revenue. Amat’s CEO, Mthu Ntlangani, said they had however, since the launch of the project made inroads in combating and reducing electricity theft, but not cable theft. To combat electricity theft, Amat has deployed its field audit team in various suburbs
testing electricity meters both domestic and business. “However, due to the bottle neck within the municipality, this leg of the project (to combat cable theft) has not taken off as yet. It is really unfortunate that business has to suffer losses due to cable theft,” Ntlangani said.
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