Residents of Beretta Street feeling hopeless and dejected at endless power supply issues

Unamused residents are forced to accept a blindfolded ride on the electric carousel.

The city’s ongoing electricity infrastructure crisis is taking a toll on individuals, families and neighbourhoods. Lives and livelihoods have stagnated as an endlessly repeating loop of anxiety and frustration is marked by a perceived silence from those they seek accountability from. In a suburb that mirrors every corner of Johannesburg, the anger of residents of Beretta Street is boiling over with no outlet for release.

The issues they face are as numerous as they are ubiquitous, including spoiled food and lost revenue while working from home. Foremost are the lengthy outages, such as the almost 48-hour failure between Tuesday evening, July 5 and Thursday afternoon, July 7.

“When we have vandalism or something happens to the main power box we can sit without power for a week, yet our electricity at the end of the month is never cheaper,” fumed resident Helen Pensalfine, stressing that load-shedding schedules are meaningless for the area.

It may come as little consolation to residents but those responsible for the infrastructure are fighting fires at every turn. “Criminal elements are using the load-shedding times as an opportunity to cut and steal cables, and to vandalise distribution boxes and mini- substations. City Power is also battling with constant overloads on the system every time that Eskom restores power after a load-shedding cycle. We then have burnt cables, switches and joints to repair everywhere,” explained Ward 97 councillor, Jacques Hoon.

Accurate communication would help ease the stress, something the residents claim is lacking. “I have reported the outages to City Power and have escalated all of the service requests that I have received from residents. I have also been in constant contact with the Hamberg depot manager to ensure that the power is restored as soon as possible. City Power are doing everything they can to restore these power outages as quickly as possible,” stated Councillor Hoon.

While residents suffer, municipal entities are left facing the backlash. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena stresses their belief that the situation is being perpetuated by malicious forces. “What makes us believe some are acts of sabotage is that in certain instances, the criminals will open mini-substations and distribution boxes and cut the cables without stealing anything,” stated Mangena. “We see these incidents as crimes against the State and want the authorities to treat them as such,” he added.

Urging residents to assist in protecting infrastructure, Councillor Hoon requested, “It is easier to protect the infrastructure than to replace it. Residents should also join their local Sector 3 CPF and actively assist with patrolling their neighbourhoods during load-shedding periods. A number of residents have also asked their private security companies to assist with the protection of our infrastructure. These initiatives have already started making a big difference for those communities that are cooperating.”

Residents spend most waking hours working to keep their heads above water, and extra resources to expend on volunteerism is in short supply. Stressing their security is already compromised and believing they have a right to the services they pay for, residents feel abandoned, neglected and abused. Begging for a solution, residents simply wish their value to be acknowledged as more than just an account on the balance sheet.