Illegal electricity connections remain an enormous issue for residents of informal settlements, especially because of the risks of these connections to children.
Informal settlements, such as Ulana, Delmore, Jerusalem, Lilianton, some sections at Ramaphosa, Angelo, Joe Slovo and other informal settlements have been living with free electricity because of tampering and orchestrating illegal connections.
These communities have been writing formal letters to the municipality for years but no positive outcome has been presented to them and now, they have decided to live with these illegal connections until the government instals electricity for them.
Children become victims of falling into the illegal connections trap.
Bonginkosi Mvelase from Ulana said children should be able to play freely in the streets.
“Children must not get hurt because the municipality cannot deliver services.
“I get scared when my child goes outside because I don’t know what will happen. This generation also doesn’t understand when you reprimand them,” said Mvelase.
Another resident said the government’s failure can lead to many deaths of innocent children.
He added the community must work together in pushing the government to instal electricity for them.
Petronella Ramabu, another resident, said the municipality must fix the illegal connection issue as soon as they can.
“When schools are closed, it is a huge concern as some of us leave our children for almost the whole day because of work,” said Ramabu.
According to a community representative of Ulana informal settlement, Sizwe Hlatshwayo, after they protested, government officials visited them.
“We have been having illegal connections since 2015.
“After we protested for electricity to be installed, people from the municipality came, but they still did not give us the answers we were looking for.
“All we need is proper electricity to be installed. Fortunately, no incident has yet occurred, but we are aware of the dangers. If the government is not doing anything for us, there is nothing we can do to change the situation,” added Hlatshwayo.
ANC Ward 21 councillor Mashudu Mudau said she is aware of the illegal connections across her ward.
“I have reported this matter to the metro and I am still waiting for them to come to fix the problems,” said Mudau.
Spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni metro Zweli Dlamini said the metro is aware of the illegal connections in most informal settlements.
“The City has a rolling programme of disconnecting such places and Ulana is among the places targeted.
“Unfortunately, we cannot share details of this operation.
“Let us also discourage people from illegal connections because this exposes innocent people to danger while also putting pressure on the grid and resulting in water outages and unplanned power cuts,” said Dlamini.
Also Read: Illegal connections leave many communities in the dark
Also Read: Clampdown on illegal connections left residents frustrated
