Gomorrah illegal connections ‘cost’ Tshwane
Councillor Leon Kruyshaar says the Gomsand and Zandfontein substations are affected by the strain on the power grid caused by illegal connections.
Illegal connections in the informal settlement of Gomorrah in Pretoria West are responsible for continuous trips affecting the supply of surrounding communities.
Gomorrah is also known as Melusi informal settlement.
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said: “The city suffers the consequences every time an illegal connection occurs on the network.”
The consequences include high revenue loss, overloads and trips of the network and risks to the life of community members and metro staff working on the network.
“The municipality has a programme of removing illegal connections across the city. This programme highly depends on security cluster roleplayers who are required to accompany the technical staff to provide security protection. This is the only measure which the city can implement at this point until the informal settlement is formalised/relocated by Human Settlements and where formal services can be provided,” he said.
The Tshwane Ya Tima campaign has been making the rounds around more urban and developed areas, though Mashigo assures chancers that the metro will be coming for every illegal connection, even in the townships.
“The municipality’s programme targets all areas which have illegal connections.”
For first-time offenders, a spot fine can be imposed by the metro police by-law enforcement team. If the person is found to be a repeat offender, he or she is arrested and criminally charged for tampering with municipal infrastructure. The penalties for the formal and informal areas, however, can differ.
“Yes, the spot fine is less than the tamper fee imposed on other legal consumers found to have committed illegal connections. The tamper fee for formal areas is dependent on the size of that consumer’s electricity point of connection,” Mashigo added.
Ward 1 councillor Leon Kruyshaar often deals with the effects of Gomorrah’s illegal connections in the areas that he looks after. He said these are driven by syndicates selling power in the informal settlement to residents.
“When we do remove the illegal connections, we immediately see a spike in the theft of infrastructure such as cables, transformers and poles in the suburbs and on the plots,” Kruyshaar said.
“When we have these outages caused by illegal connections and overload, thieves and opportunists seize the moment to vandalise our networks and infrastructure further.”
Kruyshaar says the connections cause an overload on city networks, starting with the Gomsand and Zandfontein substations which can overheat and burn.
“Both substations are earmarked to be upgraded in the next financial year. These subs usually trip during peak hours when the demand is at its highest. The network simply can’t cope, then causes traffic congestion and crime spikes, and the reservoirs don’t have the power necessary to pump water and then run dry, causing more health issues. It’s a never-ending story. These illegal connections put a severe strain on the city’s already strained budget, not to mention the revenue lost,” he said.
Founder and director of Malusi Youth Development Organisation (MYDO) Hlalakudi Malatji says the city needs to pull up its socks and solve the problem.
“As much as we condemn illegal connections in Gomorrah, we largely blame the city for dragging its feet on service delivery. This thing was a ticking time bomb and inevitable because our people have been patient for years,” Malatji said.
He says death due to illegal connections was not uncommon in Gomorrah and nothing will change as long as the metro doesn’t do its part in formalising the area.
“We buried a four-year-old boy a couple of months back as a result of these illegal connections. The question is how many must die before people get services due to them. Transformers keep on bursting due to pressure from illegal connections. I don’t know why the city can’t use the money it uses to replace transformers to supply all residents with electricity and all this will come to an end,” he said.
Malatji says Gomorrah residents live in constant fear of a live wire falling on top of them or their dwelling. He calls on the city to deliver on its promises as lives are at stake.
MYDO, the metro and Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa (CCBSA) also opened a new borehole at the MYDO community centre in Gomora to help alleviate water woes in the area.
The large informal settlement of over 2 000 residents has limited access to water – tankers deliver to parts of the settlement once to twice a week.
Media and communications officer for MYDO Petrus Maponya says that illegal connections are a daily life-threatening factor that residents have learned to live with.
“This year, two lives have already been lost to illegal connections,” Maponya said.
“I believe these illegal connections are not something that can be ignored but as much as Tshwane keeps disconnecting and our community reconnecting, it shows that it will never end any time soon. But I believe if we start acting on giving the community proper electricity infrastructure, this place will be a safe place and illegal connections will be removed.”
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