Chaos over electricity

As far as can be determined, the electricity to Kokosi tripped at the electrical substation next to the Fochville traffic department on Wednesday evening. At the time, a group of Kokosi residents were already protesting at the facility about the ongoing electrical issues in the township. Their most urgent gripe was the municipality enforcing load reduction on residents due to non-payment. The protesters forced the municipal electricians also to switch off Fochville’s electricity and warned them not to enter the substation. These protesters were among the same group that had marched peacefully in Fochville on separate occasions earlier this year. Although they handed over memorandums asking the provincial government to intervene in their dispute with the Merafong City Local Municipality over various electricity-related problems and paying for it, no one ever responded.
The protest grew in intensity on Thursday as many other Kokosi residents joined. Although the police’s public order policing unit, also known as Pops, was called to the scene, they did very little to stop the protesters from causing havoc. The mob blocked the road next to the licensing offices with some of the rubbish they had heaped upon the sidewalks after people dumped it there because the Fochville rubbish transfer station was non-functional.
The protesters grew increasingly angry when the executive mayor, Ms Nozuko Best, failed to arrive and address them, as she allegedly promised.
“We will not leave until the municipality gives us electricity again. We often only have electricity for three hours, if at all,” said one of the protest’s leaders, Mr Sbu Ndubatha.
By Friday morning, the organised protest became chaotic when learners from all the schools in Kokosi joined. The main road between Kokosi and Fochville was full of protesters, most of whom were schoolchildren. They continually pelted an armoured police vehicle parked next to the turn-off to the traffic department with stones. Continual skirmishes also occurred between the protesters and the police elsewhere along this road.
Even the veld on either side of the road was full of protesters, and many Kokosi residents were either stuck in the township or the town because their access road was closed. At approximately 12:30, the protest got so violent that the police noted that their vehicles and those of other emergency services parked next to the last houses were unsafe.
A message from a Fochville detective, WO Peter Maartens, requesting help from colleagues went out at this time. Although other Fochville police members arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, the protest continued until late that afternoon when they allowed the electricity to Fochville and Kokosi to be
reconnected.
By Tuesday, however, the problems seemed far from over. According to Ndubatha, during an IDP meeting on Monday afternoon, the task team heading the protest asked for a written agreement that the municipality halt load reduction in Kokosi. The mayor had refused, and the meeting had to be adjourned. As a result, the task team planned to go to the Carletonville municipal offices to sort the matter out. On Tuesday afternoon, Fochville residents also voiced their frustration during their IDP meeting.
Although there were rumours that the municipality tried to get an interdict to stop the protesters from interfering with Fochville’s electricity supply again, it was unclear whether such court action had taken place or whether it was successful.