Residents and tourism operators report service failures as city logs faults
Management at Avonlea Guest House, on 69A Plein Street in Polokwane, has warned that ongoing individual household power outages are harming the tourism trade and the city’s reputation, according to Review Online.
The City of Polokwane issued a public notice acknowledging a surge in power-related calls and saying it is attending to reported faults. In its statement the municipality said the outages are not related to national load-shedding but are being treated as individual household faults and will be addressed by the Energy Services unit.
“We run a guest house, not just a home. When the power goes, guests cannot take hot showers, charge their phones, or feel safe at night. We lose food in the fridges and we lose bookings because of bad reviews,” Esme van der Merwe, personal assistant to Dr Iwan Scott of Avonlea Guest House, told Review Online.
Van der Merwe told Review Online the guest house’s solar system cannot keep up when skies are overcast because it relies on sunlight to charge, making nights particularly difficult. The guest house has logged faults with the municipality but said it needs quicker action to protect bookings and the safety and comfort of visitors.
Polokwane’s notice, cited by Review Online, said the municipality’s call centre has recorded a substantial number of outage-related service requests and urged residents to be patient while technical teams work through the faults. The City said logged requests will be attended to and prioritised by its Energy Services unit.
Practical effects on hospitality and visitors
Local tourism operators say reliable electricity is a basic expectation for visitors and a component of overall safety and service quality. Avonlea’s complaint highlights a number of direct consequences when power fails at guest accommodation:
- Guest comfort: no heating, hot water or lighting at night;
- Safety concerns: guests and staff feel vulnerable in the dark and cannot rely on electric locks or lighting;
- Food waste: perishables spoil when fridges and freezers fail;
- Reputational damage: negative online reviews and cancelled bookings can follow outages.
Those impacts are particularly acute for smaller, owner-run establishments that may have limited backup supplies. Van der Merwe said the guest house has lost bookings as a result of poor reviews after outages.
What the municipality has said and what remains unclear
The City’s public notice, as reported by Review Online, reassures residents that all calls relating to individual household outages have been logged and will be attended to. The municipality emphasised these incidents are not connected to national load-shedding schedules.
Review Online’s article did not include a breakdown of the number of outages, average response times, or the specific causes of the faults reported to the Energy Services unit. Nor did it provide a timetable for when residents and business owners can expect a durable reduction in these interruptions.
| Stakeholder | Reported point |
|---|---|
| Avonlea Guest House (Dr Iwan Scott / Esme van der Merwe) | Frequent individual outages damage guest experience and business |
| City of Polokwane | All logged faults are being attended to; outages are not load-shedding |
For Polokwane residents and hospitality providers, the immediate questions are operational: how quickly technicians can reach affected properties, whether repeated faults indicate deeper network issues, and whether municipal response capacity can be increased to prevent further damage to small businesses that depend on dependable services.
Tourism stakeholders in the city have repeatedly stressed that visitors expect basic service reliability. If outages continue to interrupt stays and lead to cancelled bookings, there is a risk of longer-term reputational harm for the local tourism sector and for businesses that rely on business travel as well as leisure visitors.
Residents and businesses experiencing outages are advised to continue logging faults with the City so they appear on the municipality’s system and can be prioritised for repair, the City’s notice said. Review Online originally reported the guest house’s complaint and included the municipality’s public notice.
