Riot over illegal electricity connections in Vumbuka

Community members rioted following the dismantling of illegal power connections by the Red Ants and the Metro police in Vumbuka Informal Settlement on Tuesday, November 22.

According to communications officer at Vosloorus Police Station, Capt Piet Roussouw, Ekurhuleni Metro Police were doing random checks in Vumbuka Informal Settlement when they discovered a lot of illegal electricity connections.

Metro Police and the Red Ants decided to disconnect the power immediately. The operation began peacefully at 9.30am and continued quietly for almost two hours.

“At around 11.30am we received reports that the community in the affected area had blocked off MC Botha Drive with burning plastic containers and were stoning cars travelling along the road,” said Rossouw.

“Two cases have been opened, the first one for causing public violence and the second one for hindering and obstructing traffic on the public roads. Investigations are taking place with a hope that there will be arrests made very soon,” he explained.

One of the community members, Jabulile Majozi, said they were very angry about the disconnections.

“At least we should have been warned.

“Our area is neglected. No one is thinking about us when it comes to service delivery. That is why we had to connect illegally,” said Majozi.

But Fred Fryer, the acting head of the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality Energy Department, explained why illegal power connections are so dangerous.

“Illegal electricity connections endanger innocent lives, whilst also overloading the electricity grid. When the grid fails, customers are left without power, until Energy response teams are able to restore supply under very dangerous conditions. Cables and transformers are often overloaded to the point of catching fire, leading to huge losses of infrastructure assets.

“The worst part of illegal connections, however, remains the loss of innocent lives when somebody comes into contact with a live wire. Given that there is no trip-protection on an illegal connection, the outcome is often fatal. Other contact incidents cause severe burn injuries to victims.

“In short, when we disconnect illegal power connections, we do it with an aim of saving people from the danger they are putting themselves in,” said Fryer.