Community left in the dark

COMMUNITIES throughout South Durban recently found themselves with no electricity, no working traffic and no street lights for more than 24 hours.

According Nerissa Perumal, member of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliances (SDCEA), when affected residents tried logging their calls to eThekwini Department of Electricity to query the power outage and find out when power would be restored, all calls were directed to an automated machine. “The following day, the power kept coming on for a few minutes and would then go off again. This pattern lasted throughout the day. This was the third power cut Merebank had experienced in the last two months,” she said.

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Noluthando Mbeje, Environmental Project Officer of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliances (SDCEA), who is currently part of protests against increased power tariff charges, said: “It is extremely ridiculous and sad that Eskom is asking for 19.9% tariff increase for 2018 yet the service delivery is declining. We need an energy system that will benefit everyone, a system that is not harmful to our health and environment, that will be affordable to all the citizens of this country. We need renewable energy.”

“There should be notifications alerting residents of what is going on with Eskom so people do not panic and are be prepared and know what to expect. People have the right to know what is going on with the electricity as it is not given to them for free. Decision makers do not take into consideration the poor and the marginalised,” she added.

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