Cape Town – Agricultural workers living on farms in the Breede Valley municipality would soon have direct access to electricity, the Western Cape Government said on Thursday.
MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, said this would be made possible through the Agri-worker Electrification Project which was currently in a pilot stage.
The project was a collaborative effort between the Department of Local Government in the Western Cape, Eskom, the Hex River Table Grape Association, the Agri-workers Association and the Breede Valley Municipality, and Bredell said the “aim is to make electricity available directly to the agri-workers”.
Bredell said the fact that the agri-workers would have to purchase their own electricity from vending stations or via an electronic e-pay system meant that they “will no longer be under the producer’s jurisdiction and will now have the freedom to manage their own affairs with regards to electricity supply”.
Bredell said workers and the community would “receive electricity awareness training” to prepare them for the transition, as well as information on “safe and sensible electricity usage”.
The pilot project was expected to start in mid-2016, and the department was aiming to roll it out across the Western Cape province.
African News Agency
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