Eskom’s mini subs horror in Diepkloof
Residents in Diepkloof without electricity because of exploded mini subs and Eskom says the primary cause is illegal connections.
Eskom’s mini substations issues in Diepkloof have left residents not only without electricity but financial strains and health issues. Some have exploded posing a danger to residents staying nearby.
The Diepkloof Zone 1 minisub that exploded about two weeks ago, caused some damages in the yard it is based in and the nearby houses. Residents who witnessed this explosion described it as something like a mini earthquake. The lights in Peggy Mazaleni’s house were damaged and her neighbour’s house was left covered with oil from the explosion.
Mazaleni is suffering from arthritis and wears towels underneath her clothes because she doesn’t want to get cold and trigger arthritis-related complications. She also mentioned that she sleeps with a jacket on.
In Diepkloof Zone 2, residents say they haven’t had electricity for over two months, and according to them, Eskom said the minisub which caters to over 100 households has burned. Old women with chronic diseases are affected, young mothers are forced to exclusively breastfeed because boiling water is a hassle. They also can’t buy groceries that are meant to be refrigerated in bulks because they don’t have access to refrigerators and buying meat every day is costly.
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Another one in Diepkloof Zone 1, these residents have been without electricity for about 3 months their minisub is so old and wasn’t serviced for about 40 years and might not be safe for the community. It exploded in June and they have been without electricity since then. 85 households are affected, Elitheni Primary School, which is a special school with learners with autism is also affected as well as the municipal office. They also alleged that there have been over 10 fatalities which they believe electricity outage is the primary cause.
The power utility said that the current outages in Diepkloof are all a result of failed electricity infrastructure due to the network overload because of illegal activities. Illegal connections are part of the cause of outages and infrastructure failures and explosions and that the national lockdown has affected the production of the much-needed electrical equipment which in turn distressed the entire industry. This consequently affects the electricity equipment replacement process as it is implemented depending on the availability of material and resources and said when all resources are available, they will replace these minisubs and transformers, however, illegal connections will also be removed in this process and those who have connected illegally will be fined.
“When all resources and material are available, the replacement process will be finalised. The replacement or repair process includes meter audits, the removal of illegal connections and tampers, disconnections of those who have contraventions, issuance of fines and the settlement of the fines. We would like to urge members of the public to refrain from vandalising the electricity infrastructure, overloading the network, and connecting themselves illegally on the infrastructure. These illegal acts amongst others affect the reliability of supply, pose safety risks to the public and as is the case here, will delay the restoration of supply,” Mashishi added.
With regards to the Diepkloof Zone 1’s minisub that failed three months ago, Eskom says they had several engagements with the affected community on different platforms where the utility explained the process to be observed before the replacement of the network equipment.
With the recent outage in Zone 1, the power utility said it will be issuing fines to those customers found with contraventions and the replacement process will also be affected.
In Diepkloof Zone 2, the utility said that their team of technicians was dispatched to audit the electricity network but they were unfortunately held hostage in the process and for the safety of their employees, they had to withdraw the technicians from the area. Communities were informed to collect their fines, which they did and Eskom will begin with the replacement process once fines are settled.
Asked how long these outages will take, the power utility said once the community has satisfied the 60% minimum payment rate requirement, subject to the availability of necessary material and resources and this will also be dependent on the community’s cooperation with the utility.
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