Premier

1. How are the Cape Access centres around the province affected by load-shedding?

Downtime: When e-centres experience loadshedding during the day our centres have to close as there is no power to the eCentre facilities.

Equipment: Due to the power surges created by loadshedding, our equipment is always at risk.

Training: Centre staff have specific times for training but had to adjust these times, resulting in training taking longer than usual.

User session: Loadshedding had a considerable impact on visits by citizens to the eCentres, resulting in a significant drop in user sessions. 

Impact on service delivery: All the above led to increased complaints by users regarding services and they do at times take their frustration out on e-centre staff.

      (2) Whether any technical (a) infrastructure and (b) equipment have been  

           damaged as a result of load-shedding?

Some infrastructure and equipment has indeed been damaged due to  loadshedding.

1. Infrastructure: Network points and power points bear the brunt of the impact of   

    loadshedding. There are 62 faulty network points for the centres  and therefore 62  

    workstations are currently not working.

2. Equipment: We have installed UPS’s at eCentres to protect our server. However, the   

    UPS is usually the first to fail and when this happens eCentres bypass it by plugging the   

    power directly into the server (in order for the centre stay open) until such time that a   

    new UPS is installed. However, sometimes the server is damaged before we are able  

    to install a new UPS. Recently the server at Groot Brakrivier failed to restart after

    loadshedding.

     At Sonskynvallei e-centre (Mosselbay) four monitors could not be switched on after   

     loadshedding.

(3) Whether there are any Cape Access centres in the province that have had to close

      down due to the impact of load-shedding; if so, what are the relevant details?

     Two centres had to close their doors temporarily due to burglary, vandalism and robbery during loadshedding periods.

• The centre in Wellington experienced a break-in during loadshedding. A server, UPS and two all-in-one PC’s were stolen amounting to a considerable cost in equipment replacement alone, excluding the cost of repairing the security door and gates. The centre had to close its doors temporarily for the municipality to repair the damaged infrastructure. We are currently in the process of reopening this centre as the municipality completed the installation of a shutter door.

• The Bridgton eCentre (Oudtshoorn) facility was damaged to the extent that it was beyond repair due to burglary, robbery of equipment and vandalism during a period of loadshedding. Unfortunately, the cost of repairing and replacing the equipment is extremely high while the risk of repeat vandalisation and burglary at the current venue remains high. It was therefore decided to temporarily close the centre and relocate to a safer venue.  A site visit to the newly identified site was conducted during the first week of February and negotiations are under way to ensure the speedy relocation of the eCentre to a safer location.