Picture File: City of Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse used part of her report back session with disgruntled Soweto residents to take a swipe at her detractors.
Phalatse has for the past couple of days been under tremendous pressure, facing threats of a motion of no confidence in her.
Phalatse stressed that the current coalition government in the city is stronger and more stable than before.
“The strength of our multi-party government depends on us building strong communities across Johannesburg.
“We need Soweto and our residents to support us in our mission to rebuild and repair our beautiful city,” Phalatse said.
ALSO READ: Minority parties gun for Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse in motion of no confidence
A few weeks ago, disgruntled residents from different townships of Soweto marched to the mayor’s office in Johannesburg, demanding a solution to their electricity woes.
Residents have been complaining about the unreliable power supply to various areas of the township.
READ MORE: Soweto residents march to Joburg mayor’s office over service delivery
Phalatse has promised residents that she will be on the front line of their protest action against Eskom, should their concerns not be resolved.
Phalatse said as much as residents feel let down by the power utility, she also felt the same way.
She reassured residents that she and her multi-party government have listened to their cries and will do something about it.
“You came to us for help and I want you to know that we heard you loud and clear and we are here to say that if Eskom does not produce a concrete action plan with timelines within the next 14 working days, with a plan of action, I will personally lead a march with the residents to Eskom.
“I want national government to come down and help us and work with us and the multi-party government is already hard at work in this community,” she said.
Eskom was represented by an official in Gauteng Daphne Mokwena who blamed some of the electricity woes on vandalism of infrastructure as well as illegal connections.
According to Mokwena, most of Eskom’s mini substations have been off as a result of some residents bypassing their electricity meters.
“There are also some people in our communities who have self-nominated themselves to operate on our mini-subs and these people are not authorised even by Eskom to be operating on these mini substations.
“Unfortunately, the truth hurts, when these unauthorised people fiddle with our mini substations, we end up having these mini substations being damaged or exploding,” said Mokwena.
She said the very same mini substations were also being vandalised by people who were stealing copper cable, which led to them being off.
“There was a mini substations which was off and when our technicians arrived to fix it, they found it vandalised.
“This week, we tried to restore power for residents of Protea South but when we tried to switch on, guess what? the mini substation was vandalised, cables were stolen and as we speak residents there remain in the dark,” Mokwena said.
NOW READ: City of Joburg looking into writing off Soweto’s electricity debt, says Phalatse
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