According to bishop Robertson, illegal connections have been a matter of concern in Eldorado Park for many years now.
“All the extensions in Eldos are affected by cable theft and illegal connections. Whether they like it or not, these illegal connections have a negative impact on the electricity grid and that’s what these cable thieves don’t understand,” he said.
Robertson is a passionate community leader who seeks to improve life for the Eldorado Park community.
- Overload on electricity becomes a nightmare for residents in Riverlea – [related story]
Over the past few weeks, he has taken it upon himself to seek out areas most affected by cable theft and illegal connections, “This winter has been difficult, with extensions and certain streets taking turns to have load shedding on a daily basis.
“When the lights go off, I would contact City Power but when officials arrive at the scene they would confirm that the grid is heavily strained because of all the illegal connections,” he said.
Robertson said that the streets most affected by illegal connections in Eldorado Park were Dartmoor Avenue in Extension Eight, Botha Street and Jones Street in Extension Nine.
“The residents in these streets are highly affected and inconvenienced immensely almost every day. They cannot do simple tasks like cook for their children or bath in warm water,” he said.
“When you look closely and follow the illegal connections like I have been doing, you will notice that those connections run from our functioning electricity poles to squatter camps and even house shops,” he added.
A house shop owner in Extension Nine admitted to running his shop with illegal connections but said that all he does is pay rent to the home owner he is renting from, “I did not connect anything illegally. All I do is pay rent to keep my shop open, the people I am renting from takes care of the rest,” he said. The home owner he is renting from was unavailable for comment.
Robertson said that these illegal connections were not only frustrating but dangerous too.
“Our children can’t play in the park in Dartmoor Street because of exposed wires that might harm them,” he said.
Ward 18 councillor, Peter Rafferty said that a budget has been set in place to electrify Kliptown and once that is done, the illegal connection trend would be a thing of the past, “Councillor Fazel Jaffer and I have had meetings with the residents in these streets and we explained the plan to rectify the problem. We are still in the planning phase but a budget has been drawn up,” said Rafferty.
Follow Us Here:
Catch the latest news by visiting our other platforms:
