Over the past years to recent times, Soweto has been in an ongoing war with the power utility Eskom. It has been reported that most parts of Soweto have not been paying for electricity and there are illegal connections. Those actions have led to a lot of power cuts in the area which have been blamed to system overload by the power utility.
Residents of Braamfischerville Phase 2 have been without power for about three months and have lost hope of getting power back this winter. The residents mentioned that they have been contacting Eskom for months but they are still out of power. It is alleged that electrical fuses have been removed from their transformers and that one transformer exploded.
The issue of having no electricity has left residents stranded and without much hope. A businessman and resident, Lesibana Kekana explained that his business has taken a toll due to this problem.
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“No electricity means no network and that is affecting my business. I am spending a lot of money now more than I have ever had to.”
Kekana continued to explain that it is affecting his whole family as they now have to spend more money on petrol just so they can have lights on and cook. They had to get rid of the food that they had in the fridge because it is rotten.
Community leaders were sent to the Eskom offices in Randfontein to state their issues. Those who went to the offices were told that Braamfischerville on their system is green stating that it is on.
They were then referred to the Mathole Depot. “We went to Mathole Depot and the technicians came to check our transformer boxes. They also said they will send people to fix but we will have to wait our turn,” said one leader.
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Phina Mabyana, a resident who is also heavily affected by this problem stated that she had made peace with the fact that she will not be having electricity this winter. “We have been going to the offices and begging for electricity for a long time now, I have made peace with the fact that we will be staying in the dark for a little while longer.”
There was a peaceful march to the Mathole Depot by the residents to state their demands once again, but the people have not gotten what they want.
The crime rate in the area has escalated rapidly over these months without electricity. People are being robbed when going and coming from work.
Learners who have returned to school are also severely affected by this issue as they are also getting robbed. The number of burglaries has increased and the thieves cannot be identified because they are in the dark.
A number of fatalities have also been reported over the last three months and it was said that it was because of the problem of electricity.
“It is very dangerous that we do not have any electricity because people are losing their lives and some are getting injured. This problem is affecting all of us very badly,” said Thembi Mqokomiso who is also a resident.
Some residents mentioned that their transformers may have been tampered with and the fuses may have been removed. They continued to say that they do not know what to do anymore because they have been getting promises but nothing has been done.
In response, Eskom said it is aware of the problem faced by the residents of Phase 2 and blamed it on illegal connections and vandalism of electricity infrastructure.
“The area is currently without electricity supply due to failed and exploded transformers which resulted from the network overload caused by unauthorised people who illegally operate on the Eskom electricity infrastructure, illegal connections, bypassed meters, and vandalised electricity infrastructure,” reads a statement from the power utility.
Eskom also said it has started conducting meter audits in the area with an aim of removing illegal connections. Those who are found to be using electricity illegally are fined R6052,60 which they have to pay before their power can be restored.
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