Residents at the Pelgrim informal settlement in Isipingo will soon have metered electricity.
eThekwini Municipality started the project about three weeks ago.
“Most of the poles are in and the cable has been hung,” said Isipingo PR councillor, Jaco Pienaar.
Meters still have to be fitted into the shacks. The project was initially to be completed in December, but with a month-long break for the festive season, it should be complete by the end of January.
The land the settlement is on was owned by a consortium of businessmen and was only recently purchased by the municipality, which is why it wasn’t electrified previously.
One Pelgrim resident, Zukiswa Magwazi is very happy that her shack will soon have electricity. “The most important thing I need electricity for is for lights, so that I can read and my three children can do their homework at night,” she said. “I usually have to go to my sister’s house to read. Using candles is dangerous,” said Zukiswa, who moved to the settlement in 1995 from the Eastern Cape. “Thanks to our councillor for working hard for us.”
Shack fires are a dangerous reality in informal settlements, often started by knocked over candles or parafin heaters or stoves. Two devastating fires have ravaged Pelgrim recently. The last one in May destroyed 26 shacks, but fortunately there were no fatalities.
Another danger is illegal connections where sub-standard cables are used to ‘steal’ electricity from overhead lines. These cables, with exposed wires showing where they are joined, run along pathways in between shacks, where young children play barefoot.
Firefighters have been electrocuted when fighting shack fires, as a result of the exposed wires.
The municipality has also installed extra ablution containers in the settlement in the last three months.
“These residents will be moved in about 2016,” said Cllr Pienaar. “Land has been bought by the municipality over the railway line, where 150 flats will be built to house some of them.”
