Residents of Chris Hani informal housing in Khutsong fear for safety due to damaged electricity poles
They say that Eskom officials who are visiting the area are not helping them.
Residents of the Chris Hani informal housing area in Khutsong are worried that their lives are endangered by damaged electricity poles.
“We already reported this pole to Eskom officials last year,” says Benedict Mahase, while showing a pole leaning over the yard across the street from house number 1053. The pole is hanging over so far that it looks as if it might soon topple over.
Meanwhile, the bottom of the electricity pole at house number 1846 seems to be rotten and it has split in half.
“This is very dangerous as it can fall on the house, or one of the six children staying there,” Mahase warned.
Because of the danger, Mahase and other residents bound a piece of wire they picked up on the sidewalk around the pole to keep it in place temporarily.
According to Mahase and the owner of the house, Selinah Medupi, they have told Eskom officials about the problem every time they see them in the their area.
Meanwhile, other residents are complaining that brand new informal houses in Chris Hani are being electrified by Eskom staff, even though the municipality had a drive to get people out of the area earlier as it is not safe.
The new shacks, which allegedly belong to illegal miners, are being put up in an area that was previously cleared. At one of the shiny new shacks, the residents have already started to dig for gold in the yard next to it. The Herald took the issues to Eskom but was still awaiting a response by printing time.
