SEBOKENG. – Residents of Kanana in Sebokeng shut down a local voting station on Monday, May 27, in protest against prolonged electricity outages. Gatvol residents who have endured seven years without power demanded immediate intervention from the government and Eskom.
The protest saw residents burning tires and blocking the entrance to the Tswelopele Day Care Centre, the designated site for special voting.
Some residents reported living in darkness for as long as seven years, while others said their electricity supply had been cut off since 2020.
According to the protestors, about 106 households had each paid R500 to Eskom in a bid to acquire new transformers, yet their situation remained unchanged.
Speaking to Sedibeng Ster, community leader Baba Mncube said “Since 2019 one of the transformers in the area was disconnected due to a looming squatter camp which saw illegal dwellers connecting electricity from it. Eskom allocated a contractor to connect new systems due to conflicts between the two, the job was never complete.”
“Recently another contractor was appointed however he never seems to complete his job. We told the councilor about our grievance and how elections would be disrupted should the process fail to continue. Our grievances seem to fall on deaf ears hence we are here today,” he said.
A delegated team of leaders went to Eskom to demand answers from political leadership in the area.
Following their closed-door meeting, Eskom promised to resume work on Tuesday.
While the voting station remained closed for most of the day, preventing special voters from casting their ballots, the group of angry residents allowed voting to continue with the ultimatum that Eskom resumes work the next day.
Mncube said, “We will allow special votes to continue today, however, should they [Eskom] fail to deliver on their promise, our people will go back to the street to raise their concerns.”
Eskom spokesperson Amanda Qithi confirmed the energizing of Kanana transformers on Tuesday, March 28.
“Eskom has a significant backlog in the replacement of the transformers given the high rate of failure of these critical network equipment and it has a process it follows to replace the failed infrastructure,” she said.
“With the community having reached the 60% threshold our technicians promptly replaced the affected transformers and they are scheduled to be energized on Tuesday, 28 May 2024,” she added.
