A man collapsed and died in Orlando East,Soweto, while in the queue to update his electricity meter earlier this morning. According to eyewitnesses, the man collapsed and they thought he had just fainted but later realised he had passed on. The man who is said to have been number 486 in the queue was one of the hundreds of Soweto residents who were queuing at the Eskom offices to get help with upgrading their electricity meters as the deadline to recode looms.

HE WANTED TO BE FIRST IN LINE

According to the deceased's sister-in-law, 59-year-old Joseph Fikile Busakwe left his house this morning in the hope that he would be the first in line only to find hundreds of people in the queue, and he was number 486. Vuvu Keswa said that her brother-in-law attempted to upgrade his meter several times following Eskom prompts but failed. "He left the house at 4.10 am to book a place in the queue before Eskom employees arrived. About 20 minutes later, his wife received a call that she should rush to the hall because her husband had fainted,' said Keswa, adding that when the wife got to the hall, she found her husband lying down on the floor. Eyewitnesses said that some residents booked lines as early as 7pm last night so they could meet the Sunday deadline. "This is bad; there are elderly people who have been here for hours and they are not getting any joy. If the Eskom system was working very well, these people would not be here," one resident fumed. 

DEADLINE CAN NOT BE EXTENDED 

Minister of Electricity, Kgosientso Ramokgopha, said during a media briefing yesterday that the deadline to upgrade the meters cannot be extended because the technology has a time stamp and it is ending on 24 November 2024. "We can't extend it. It's a technical issue and Eskom cannot be blamed for consumers who experience disruptions. Come Monday, the 25th, there will be people lining up to protest and express their grievances. We are saying that they still have another four days to do this exercise,' Ramokgopa said. The minister was in Soweto today, where he said Eskom has set up community pop-up sites and teams that are working extended hours to assist customers with KRN1 to KNR 2 prepaid metering issues.

As per Eskom, to update your meter, start by checking if your pre-paid meter is on KRN1, not updated, or KRN2 updated. Enter the code 1844 6744 0738 4377 2416 on your meter keypad. If your meter displays "2," "2.2," or "r2: t2," it has been upgraded to KRN2. If it displays "1" or "1.2," you still need to upgrade to KRN2.