GEORGE NEWS - The citizens of Victoria Bay have been without Telkom services for the past eight weeks after a bluegum tree fell on the main Telkom line and severed it on 19 February. 

An electricity line was also damaged, but the electricity was restored within a day.

Owners and managers of holiday accommodation say they have had a drastic drop in their Easter holiday occupancy. This loss of revenue will impact on their ability to recover high overheads.

Telkom was alerted immediately, but up until Monday 9 April the status quo for Victoria Bay residents remained the same. On Tuesday 10 April, Telkom's spokesperson said that Telkom's technicians were on site and were expected to complete the repairs by Wednesday 11 April (yesterday). 

She said, "The initial fault was caused when a bluegum tree was being felled causing damages to cables in the area. There was also a subsequent incident involving cable theft further along the affected cable route. The subsequent event had resulted in extended downtime from our initial estimates."

The only reason why Lands End Guest House owner Rod Hossack (left) and staff members Princess Daniel Nyirenda and Stefaans Pieterse are giving the thumbs-up, is because the George Herald showed an interest in the sad state of affairs.

Red Tape Unit
General manager of Seabreeze holiday resort Ampie Vorster said he contacted the Western Cape Red Tape Unit on Wednesday 4 April, on advice from the George Business Chamber, and he had prompt reply. Upon being informed on 10 April that the status quo hadn't changed, Bronwyn Louw of the Red Tape Reduction Unit said they were investigating the matter.

Loss of revenue
Vorster said Seabreeze also suffered a severe loss in revenue due to the interruption of the phone and ADSL services. "For the last six years, Seabreeze had a 100% occupancy during Easter holiday, and due to the Telkom problem we could only manage a 59% occupancy this year."

Sewage spill
In the eight weeks since the line was severed, there has been a sewage spill from the George Municipality's pump station on 13 March, which George Herald reported on.

The paper enquired from the municipality whether their early warning telemetry systems at the Victoria Bay pump station were directly affected by the non-functioning Telkom line. 

At the time of going to press no reply had been received.

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