The residents of Mayfield Ext Six, in Putfontein, took to the streets to remove all illegal connections which they say have led to a three-day electricity black-out in the area.
“We haven’t had electricity for the past three days. The municipality told us our electricity is overloaded so this morning we decided to remove all illegal connections in the Zwakala informal settlement,” a resident said.
Residents were seen dragging cables dug from an adjacent informal settlement and dropped off at a nearby centre, where they had gathered to air their frustrations.
In a WhatsApp voice note circulated to community members, a resident is heard asking the community to march to the municipality because their grievances haven’t been addressed.
“We told the municipality about our situation.
“We are tired of being unfairly treated. We want to be removed from the municipality’s grip and added to Eskom because we are tired.
“I’m asking the community to gather so we can march to the municipal offices because it’s clear these people are playing us,” the voicenote said.
Daveyton electricity woes continue
Frustrated residents from some parts of Daveyton have complained that despite being aware of their load-shedding schedule, some residents experienced up to 14 hours of outages a day.
“No one from the municipality has communicated why this constantly happens and what is being done to alleviate the issues.
“When enquiring with the Ekurhuleni municipality contact centre, we are advised that Daveyton is not serviced by them and residents must take up their complaints with Eskom directly.”
According the resident, their ward councillor stated Daveyton experienced additional load-shedding because it’s a low-paying area and therefore it’s subjected to load-reduction.
“Where do we further escalate this matter because Eskom is not giving residents any updates no matter the number of calls logged on a daily basis?”
“If we have a cohort of ‘non-paying’ residents amongst those who actually pay- why is the entire community punished?”
The resident added they were unable to make contingency plans because of a lack of communication from their ward councillors.
“Many people are working and go to sleep without electricity. Waking up to no electricity won’t allow one to function efficiently if they are working.
“At this point we are treated as animals. Groceries rot, appliances break and we can’t even prepare warm water to bath.”
The Benoni City Times is awaiting comment from the metro.
Also Read: How to manage your laundry during loadshedding
Also Read: Loadshedding a cause for water interruptions
