Cape Ton - When it comes to service delivery, Sandvlei residents claimed to say they are a stepchild to Macassar's ward 109.
Sandvlei, Macassar Village, and the south-east of Baden Powell Drive are among areas that make up ward 109.
The area is well known for being a small farming community as well as for notoriously experiencing devastating floods almost every year.
However, locals feel as if their close-knit community is in a different country since they have been ignored when it comes to service delivery.
Residents have been left in the dark this week, without receiving any assistance during the storms and flooding.
This is after a main cable supplying electricity broke off due to severe weather conditions, which has also seen hundreds of structures demolished in the Western Cape this week.
Madjie Salie, 48, who has been living in the area for more than 40 years, described Sandvlei as a “forgotten world” when it comes to services.
Salie blamed local councillor, Peter Helfrich, saying he failed to provide adquate support to Sandvlei.
Salie, like many other Muslim residents who experienced a lengthy power outage, had to throw away their food for their Eid celebrations.
“The food was all rotten so we had to throw it away. The councillor doesn't care about the people. He is a picture councillor,” Salie said.
“The same with the floods. He wasn't at one house in Sandvlei, he was just seeking attention and wanted to be seen in newspapers.”
“I was born in Sandvlei, this is a family thing. There is a massive history of Sandvlei that no one knows about.”
It wasn't until Thursday that Sandvlei and the Kramat communities' electricity was restored after angry residents blocked the road with burning tyres.
Beaufort West farms, portions of Kraaifontein, Khayelitsha, and Lynedoch were among the other communities left in the dark.
Eskom said they were attending to the outage.
“Technicians are attending to the faults, but it should be noted that the amount of faults due to the storms has left a significant backlog that our response teams are working through,” they said.
A community leader from Macassar, Christiaan Stewart, told the Weekend Argus that he agreed with the disgruntled residents.
He said that service delivery should be rendered equally throughout the whole ward.
“There is a huge difference in service delivery in Sandvlei, Kramat compared to Somerset West.
Those people get more privileges than us who live in the informal settlements, we have never received proper service yet,” Stewart said.
In a response to the resident's claims, Helfrich said he had not observed any discernible discrepancies in treatment among different areas or any indication of superior service in one area over another.
He said it’s common to hear residents from various areas express perceptions of unequal service provision, especially from Eskom.
“ It's improbable for all these claims to be simultaneously accurate. This highlights a fundamental issue in addressing service delivery concerns,” Helfrich said.
“We tend to focus on comparing service levels rather than tackling the underlying problem.”
According to Helfrich, the core issue lies in Eskom's widespread provision of below par services, affecting not only his ward but others as well.
“This should be our primary focus for improvement. It's important to note that Eskom's challenges in delivering timely services do not reflect on the dedication and competence of its staff,” he said.