Close to 30% of the municipality’s revenue from electricity is lost due to illegal connections spreading out like spaghetti in the informal settlements.
Apart from this, lives are also paying a high stake as another girl, aged only four was electrocuted in Vosman last week because of illegal wiring. This is the fourth incident in two months.
On Monday, July 21 a team from the municipality led by the city’s administrator, Mr Theo van Vuuren and the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Ben Dorfling, visited Vosman where illegal connections were pulled out.
Electricity is tapped illegally from poles and some were found tapping from houses. Prepaid meters were found to be bridged; some were connected directly, bypassing the meters.
During the electricity clean-up operation on Monday, three people were arrested for illegally tapping electricity.
On Friday, July 18 a man living in Mgababa Hostel in Ferrobank was also arrested for contravening the municipal law by connecting electricity illegally.
“The individuals who are using their legal connections as a distribution point to illegal users, and therefore making money out of selling electricity while they themselves are not even paying, will be arrested and charged criminally. I expect over the next few days various arrests will follow the arrest made on Friday at Ferrobank,” said Van Vuuren.
“The situation in this area is severe. There are various sections of informal settlements in between formalised areas and most if not all of them are tapping electricity illegally from some home owners or from poles. This obviously is very unsafe as not only are they overloading the system and causing dangerous situations and damage to the system, it is also costing the municipality millions in electricity which it has to pay to Eskom but does not receive the income for,” he said.
“We have more than 30 000 families staying in these and worse conditions around the city, most towards the western parts. More than 12 000 of them are also staying on undermined areas and in areas which are unsafe. The addressing of the informal settlement challenge may be the biggest single challenge we have and that will also address many other issues,” Van Vuuren continued.
He pointed out that illegal connections are also taking place in formal areas and there he pinpointed back rooms that are in most cases also illegally built.
The municipality’s electrical infrastructure is everything but on par. The municipality is a licensed distributor of electricity as issued by the National Energy Regulator (NERSA).
Van Vuuren said the current challenges and problems faced with the provision of electricity to communities is as a result of an imbalance in supply and demand of electricity, mainly due to the exceptional growth of the municipality, overloading of distribution systems, usage mainly as a result of illegal connections, ageing and outdated technology, copper theft and aged infrastructure.
The growth of the city has been phenomenal and the staff compliment has not been in line with this growth. As a direct result of the shortage of qualified staff, specifically electricians, the department has increasingly been reliant on external help in the form of contractors to keep the network functional and has come at a huge cost to the budget of the municipality.
The Electrical Services Department has a shortage of skilled personnel such as engineers, artisans, electricians, technicians, fitters and boilermakers. Altogether 41 of the 76 positions in this department are filled.
Taking all this in consideration it is no wonder that many a night residents are sitting in the dark, Eskom’s bill is escalating and the city’s coffers are filling up with emptiness.
Video footage of the illegal connections being removed
*Can’t see the video? Click here.
