Exposed wires a threat to livestock and people
An exposed electrical cable, which has already resulted in the death of a goat, is now threatening the lives of people and other livestock
Julia Makofane owns a piece of land in the Winterveld farm area. She is a farmer and has goats and pigs on her property.
Two Eskom poles supporting a transformer box providing electricity to the farm are partly loose, and live cables are exposed on the ground next to one of the poles. Heavy rainfall caused the soil to erode, leaving the wires exposed.
One afternoon in 2017 when Makofane went to check on the animals, she found one of her goats lying dead on the ground next to the cables.
She immediately covered the wires with soil in fear of another animal, or even worse, one of her workers, being electrocuted.
She wrote two letters to Eskom and made several phone calls for someone to assist her in getting the cables buried safely. On one occasion a person with whom she was having a telephone conversation on the line to Eskom claimed he cannot assist her because it was “Good Friday”.
She continued calling Eskom’s customer care and talked to different people every time, but until now she has not been able to get assistance. According to Makofane, Eskom officials did come out to the farm once, but they only used a rope to stabilise the one pole.
Desperate for help she brought her evidence and letters to Steelburger/Lydenburg News. In one letter written in 2017 she explained her situation and claimed to have reported the issue back in 2014. She begged them for help and mentioned that when they did come to the farm it was all with empty promises.In 2018 she wrote to them again, stating that her case was never attended to.
“I fear for the lives of not only my livestock, but even more, the people on the farm,” said Makofane.
After numerous efforts to get comment from Eskom, no reply was received at the time of going to press.
