City of Joburg MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD), Councillor Tania Oldjohn recently flipped the switch in the Princess informal settlement as part of the City’s electrification of informal settlements programme.
According to a statement released by Stanley Itshegetseng, the switch-on event was attended by City Power executives, City of Johannesburg Regional Director and members of the community. Stanley is the Deputy Director of Communication and stakeholder relations Office of the MMC – EISD.
“The informal settlement was established in 1994 and has never had electricity. The community survived on paraffin stoves, gas, wood fire, and illegal connections from the nearby suburbs, whose electricity supply tripped regularly due to overloading,” he said.
“City Power started a project to supply electricity to at least 900 households as part of the project’s Phase 1 at a cost of R27 million. Phase 2 will start in the coming weeks. This project included the installation of streetlights to ensure the residents’ safety at night.”
Speaking at the event, MMC Tania said the electrification of informal settlements is central to the City’s developmental plans.
“Today we walk our talk after we said we wanted every informal settlement in the City electrified. The electrification addresses the revenue losses the City endures. We lose a lot of money annually due to illegal connections at informal settlements, and equipment failures due to vandalism during illegal connections, while the paying customers get inconvenienced by frequent outages,” she said.
“The residents of Princess informal settlement have suffered a great deal without electricity. Many children and adults have been electrocuted by exposed wires. I met a pensioner, Mama Thandiwe Loliwe, who is 81 and has been living here for 26 years. She used paraffin to cook and a makeshift coal stove to warm the house. She doesn’t deserve to live that way, and that’s why we want to push the Housing Department and other stakeholders to fast-track the proclamation of qualifying informal settlements, so that people can live decently with electricity.”
The Department of Housing, through their Informal Settlement Development Programme, identified the Princess informal settlement for development. The project started in the 2017/ 2018 financial year, with the bulk link implemented in two financial years’ budget, to the value of over R20 million.
“As the City of Johannesburg, we believe that access to safe and affordable electricity has an immense contribution to the livelihood and dignity of the people. It saves lives that were endangered by inhalation of smoke from unsafe sources of energy that were used,” Tania said.
“It helps them save money too, because they are now able to buy groceries that would last them longer without fear of food rotting due to lack of refrigeration. The local economy also grows because electricity is important in the running of local businesses.”
City Power acting CEO, Nancy Maluleke said like with many other projects this electrification project touched the lives of local people and businesses. It created 41 informal employment opportunities through the use of local labourers and local SMMEs, who also participated in the project.
“We are excited about this milestone as it empowers the local people, over and above providing much-needed electricity to the residents. We appeal to the residents to safeguard this infrastructure and ensure there is no vandalism, no theft of cables, no illegal connections. It is the residents who get inconvenienced when power goes off due to vandalism and theft,” Nancy said.
City Power has an annual electrification programme, with informal settlements such as Rugby Club and Matholesville expected to be switched on in the coming months.
