The Gauteng government led by Premier Panyazi Lesufi held community discussions for Soweto residents in Zola, to engage on the electricity crisis and crime in the area.
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Lesufi who was joined by Members of the Executive Committee across the province’s departments on Sunday, promised residents that the Gauteng government was looking at immediate resolutions to tackle the issues raised by the community.
In the public meeting, residents raised a plethora of issues pertaining to crime and safety, rising drug problem and housing as some of the pressing challenges.
But for many, a huge thorn was the issue of electricity. The community of Zola 3 has experienced on-going electricity problems for over two years.
Lesufi, began his address by apologizing to the residents for the poorly managed crisis in the said township.
“The president recently convened a meeting and I was very clear to president Ramaphosa that if we can’t fix electricity, it is the end of all of us as leadership and as society. We have to fix this problem and we need to fix it now,” said Lesufi.
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“Even though we do not have the mandate to run the issue of electricity but as the provincial government led by you, we will not fold our arms and say there is nothing we can do. We will be with you in communities and structures so we can resolve the problem.”
The premiere assured residents that he led a delegation of mayors, MMCs and community leaders to engage with Eskom on the challenges facing Zola and further assured them that no one will be disconnected until a programme of action was reached with the community. In addition, he assured that Eskom and all relevant leaders would meet weekly until the meter was resolved.
“There are two areas where we need to intervene immediately, assisted by Eskom, is the part that has been raised and the part of the school and on that basis we will find a resolution.
“We want to come here every day to track the process so that we can be in a position to resolve all these issues. We will continue and give updates on everything until we conclude everything,” he added.
Lesufi used his address to reaffirm his stances on the scrapping of Soweto’s electricity debt, citing that this was a necessary move.
“I know that we are unemployed and I was the first one to approach both the minister of energy and minister responsible for Eskom, and also the first one to confront the presidents to say ‘until we remove the debt of electricity in Soweto, we are not going to resolve the issue’ but we can’t just remove the debt, we must agree on a process and that is to protect those that are unemployed and the elderly that can’t pay but ensure those that have businesses in our townships must pay for electricity,” he said to loud cheers.
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During discussions, residents said the electricity issue had contributed to the high levels of criminality and blamed the lack of police visibility and slow turnaround time as some of the reasons the community found itself in ruins.
Many said they hoped that the outcomes of the meeting would be able to yield a way forward for the community, as they praised their ward councillor, Thapelo Radebe for bringing government officials into the area.
“This area has been in a mess with electricity. We are happy to be in the midst of representatives from the government and Eskom.
“Things are collapsing while we watch. Drugs are ravaging the youth. The school is being attacked every now and again. We need the matter of this school to be addressed urgently,” a longtime resident, Paul Zwane told Urban News.
