East residents lock heads over illegal connections
Two vehicles torched in a fight over illegal electricity connection
A feud about illegal electricity connections in Mamelodi East RDP Extension 17 has ended with two vehicles being torched and a house vandalised.
The conflict started when residents of Mountain View informal settlement clashed with residents of Extension 17 on Tuesday afternoon after an attempt to illegally connect electricity from a newly installed transformer in Extension 17.
The residents in Extension 17 would not let that happen, claiming it would overload the transformer and cause yet another power failure in the area.
A resident from Extension 17, who wished not to be named for fear for his life, said he was attacked by angry residents of Mountain View who said they were looking for his son.
ALSO READ: Report and stop illegal connections – Eskom
The residents accused his son of being the leader of the group that had prevented them from illegally connecting to the new transformer.
He said the angry residents came to his house around 21:30 and when they did not find his son, they assaulted him instead, broke the windows of his house and torched his two vehicles.
The residents of Extension 17 said at some point they were without electricity for three weeks because of the illegal connections.
Ward 93 councillor Rabasotho Masupa said illegal connections were not allowed as they caused power failure.
“The illegal connection had been going on for so long and the only solution to this problem is to move the residents of Mountain View to another area,” Masupa said.
He said the final decision has not yet been taken, but that was the only option they had for now to avoid conflict between the residents.
Residents of Extension 17 said they are living in fear and pleaded with the Tshwane metro and the police to patrol the area to keep them safe.
ALSO READ: Mams residents blame illegal connections for running outages
The owner of the torched vehicles has since opened a case of malicious damage to property and assault at Mamelodi East police station.
The Mamelodi East police have yet to comment.
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
