Tsutsumani residents block the streets with burning tyres and rocks demanding electricity
ALEX – Residents blockaded busy London Road, Lenin Drive, South Africa Street and Roosevelt Street with stones and burning tyres on 1 August.
Chaos erupted in Tsutsumani when angry residents of extensions 7, 9 and 10 took to the streets demanding the restoration of electricity after two weeks of darkness in the area.
Residents blockaded busy London Road, Lenin Drive, South Africa Street and Roosevelt Street with stones and burning tyres on 1 August. Alexandra Police Station spokesperson,Sergeant Simphiwe Mbatha said community members embarked on a protest demanding restoration of electricity in the area.
“No member of the community was arrested during the protest. The protesters blockaded a number of streets including London Road and Roosevelt Street. Our members responded to the scene and dispersed community members who did not retaliate but listened when told to disperse.”
A community member and resident of Lesotho Street, Nomvula Dhlamini said the area had been without electricity for two weeks. “We don’t have electricity. We can’t even cook for our families and we have even lost an elderly person due to power outage in the area. The entire neighbourhood is in the dark and City Power is doing nothing to solve the problem. We are tired of buying fast food because we can’t afford it, we don’t have money, we are locked in the houses because of lockdown,” Dhlamini said.
Ward 105 councillor, Tefo Raphadu said a mini substation went up in flames a few weeks earlier and was reported to City Power. “We are waiting for a new box to be installed by City Power. We reported the matter and they promised to come and instal the new box. I don’t know what the cause of the delay is,” Raphadu said.
City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena said the utility was in the process of procuring material to fix the blown mini substation and pole-mounted transformers.
“Unfortunately, we still don’t have a material to fix the mini blown mini station and pole-mounted transformers. We had challenges of procurement due to Covid-19 whereby our suppliers experienced problems. We have however started receiving some material and we will be starting with the repairs of the mini station soon,” he said.
Mangena urged residents to use electricity sparingly by unplugging non-essential items to avoid overloading which leads to explosions on infrastructure.
