MMC visits Kwa-Thema amid protests
Protesters promised the restoration of electricity within 24 hours.
Kwa-Thema – The protest for the scrapping of load reduction in Kwa-Thema took a dangerous turn on Monday morning when frustrated residents blocked and barricaded roads with big rocks and burning tyres preventing any movement into the area.
This is after residents were exposed to more than 12 hours of load reduction since Thursday.
This angered the residents, who took to the streets on Thursday. They vandalised and burnt down the Kwa-Thema customer care centre’s security office and looted some local businesses.
Some protesters took their grievances to the N17 highway and blocked traffic with burning tyres, rocks and a hijacked truck.
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On Thursday, the two transformers were reported to be damaged, and the metro had to implement extended load-shedding by rotating the various sections of the township.
One of the transformers was reportedly damaged by lightning a few weeks ago. This angered the residents, who took to the streets on Saturday.
On Tuesday, MMC of Water, Sanitation and Energy Senzi Sibeko met with the disgruntled residents to address their grievances.
He told them that technicians are working on a second line to accommodate the affected areas and estimated that electricity would be restored within 24 hours.
Sibeko urged the residents to afford the technicians time to fix the damages.
“They are running tests at the substation to determine more faults to avoid future damages.We expect the damaged transformers to be fixed within 24 hours,” said Sibeko.
Community member Tshepo Mwelase said they were only informed about the Nkabinde transformer, which was taken in for repairs in June and expected to be back within six months.
“How do they expect residents to survive long hours without electricity? We were not even informed of the changes in the existing load-shedding schedule,” said Mwelase.
Protesters vowed to return to the streets if the transformers were not repaired within 24 hours.
