Telkom going downhill and unable to fulfil its commitments

I live out in the countryside, six miles from the nearest tarmac road and 20 from the nearest Telkom office. Now, when I first "signed on" with Telkom some 30 years ago, I understood that their part of the agreement was to supply me with a serviceable land line. Out here in Martindale in the Eastern Cape my telephone line goes on poles for a couple of clicks to where it is connected to a battery driven radio transmitter that is backed up by a solar panel. Anyway, apart from the usual breaks when the locals have stolen the copper wire connecting me to the transmitter, or when they have stolen the solar panel - these faults have always been dealt with fairly timeously.

At some time in late February my phone line went dead - I reported it on 28th February ( reference 83CEZ280212 ). and two full weeks later I am still without a phone. Not having a landline out here in the countryside (where cell phone coverage is somewhat limited) puts one at a distinct disadvantage, and what worries me is that, should something happen to either my wife or myself, we would have no way of communicating with the emergency services. I have managed to get through to an operator twice. On the first attempt I was advised that the matter was in the hands of a supervisor (Hassim ??) and he had been sent a message to contact me (I am still awaiting that contact more than a week later). On the second time that I managed to get through to an operator I was advised that Telkom was waiting for delivery of a "card" and that it had to be imported from France.

If anyone reads this and has the time or inclination, perhaps they could, on my behalf, direct a few newspapers to this posting in the hope that someone can start putting some pressure onto Telkom. Maybe there is a lawyer out there who would be willing to sue the company on my behalf - it would have to be pro bono though. You can contact me through my contact page - I have removed the Telkom number!!!

I take this as being just one more sign of how South Africa is going downhill, weighed down by the pressure of corruption, bad management, reverse apartheid and bad government.