City Power has cut off illegal connections and removed around 10,000 kilograms of aerial bundle cables, bare wires, and aluminium cable conductors’ worth about R500,000 along London Road in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. The disconnection occurred yesterday as part of a collaborative effort between the Johannesburg power utility and law enforcement agencies to curb excessive electricity usage in the area.
RESIDENTS NOT HAPPY
Residents of the township said that City Power should have at least alerted them before coming to disconnect izinyoka nyoka in the area. On several occasions, City Power officials have been attacked by Alexandra residents, even at times when they’ve come to restore electricity in the area. A resident who spoke to ZiMoja said it was unfair that most people bought perishable food, including meat, as it was the end of the month and now, they do not have electricity. "They should’ve told us that they are coming on a certain date; then we would have prepared ourselves and not bought anything that would need to be refrigerated," said one resident. He said the government should at least provide solar panels for them as an alternative since electricity is an issue. "We live in a filthy environment whereby kids need to bathe twice a day, where are we going to get warm water for them? Government officials come here to campaign and make empty promises, but when they come to disconnect, they fail to approach us; it’s unfair," another resident said.
IZINYOKA NYOKA
City Power said there has been a surge in power outages in these areas over the past few weeks. They said investigations pointed to illegal connections, vandalism, and cable theft as the main causes of the outages. The power utility said that illegal connections, theft, and vandalism continue to significantly contribute towards the loss of supply for paying customers and revenue for City Power. CEO Tshifularo Mashava said they are seeing an increase in the number of illegal connections and the expansion of backroom dwellers, which negatively affect the provision of services to paying customers. "These illegal connections and backroom dwellers lead to an overloaded network, which further compromises the health of the grid," Mashava said, adding that as City Power, they are committed to providing reliable electricity to residents in the City of Johannesburg, but this cannot be achieved without the cooperation of the community in combating illegal connections. "These connections remain a serious problem that requires a coordinated approach to curbing it. We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that we remove as many illegal connections as we can and reduce the strain on our grid,” added Mashava.
RESIDENTS AT RISK OF ELECTROCUTION
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said that the informal settlement along London Road, which was targeted, is an area where community resistance and unauthorised electricity connections are problematic. Mangena said that the informal settlement is situated beneath their power service, which carries 88 kV transmission lines. "This is where residents are tapping into our network unlawfully and stealing electricity, which is contributing to overloading and leading to frequent outages in the area. We’ve had to replace five mini substations in the area recently due to damage caused by these illegal connections," he said. He added that the area was not suitable for electrification due to the dangerous proximity of shacks that are built beneath their transmission lines. "Residents living here face significant risks, as evidenced by multiple fatal electrocutions in the previous financial year caused by unsafe connections. We will continue to engage the Human Settlement Department, as these people need to be housed at a different location that is safer for them," Mangena said.
