This is the situation Doreen Sardinha (24) and other residents opposite the Princess informal settlement find themselves in thanks to City Power’s refusal to switch electricity back on.
City Power initially cut the electricity of the paying customers because of criminal connections by the settlement dwellers, saying that it costs them too much in stolen power and cables.
The Record once again visited the flats that have been without electricity for almost two months on 3 July after receiving a help cry from Sardinha.
“No one has yet come to us with a solution. Our expenses have doubled. He (Solomon Benghu) goes home to a warm house at night and enjoys a nice cooked meal while all we can eat is eggs and bread because we do not have power to cook a decent meal.
The paraffin some of the residents have to use makes the food taste disgusting and because everything is made in one pot it is usually cold by the time you get to eat it,” says a desperate Sardinha.
“The children do not always understand, so as parents have to lie; telling them everything is going to be alright. Meanwhile we are worrying where the next day’s candles and food are coming from.
“We bought a little generator but that was stolen from our balcony. Now we had to borrow money for a new one but it costs R120 in petrol a day. I cannot buy bulk groceries anymore and have to buy daily which makes it more expensive.
“At least our landlady was kind enough to buy us a new gas stove,” Sardinha bemoans her state of affairs.
She also tells of her fear when her husband often spends nights away working while she and her little daughter is all alone.
“They have broken into the scrap yard behind the flats twice in the past two weeks. One night they returned after the police left and all we could do is lie in silence listening to them go about their business,” she says with terror.
Councillor Gert Niemand told the Record that all he still receives from City Power is promises and excuses. Neither has anything come from City Power’s promises of supplying the residents with generators until the problem is solved.
Solomon Benghu could not be reached for comment and did not reply to the voicemail the Record left on his cell phone.
