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North residents left in the dark after “non-payment”

Each household has been paying money in order to get electricity fixed, but still remain in the dark.

Winterveldt residents complain about not having had any power for three months, but say it is because don’t pay for their electricity.

“I have reported the matter to the municipality,” said local ward councillor Mfanafuthi Hlatshwayo, confirming the electricity issue in the area.

“But the reason there is no electricity in Slovo is because people are not paying for it.”

Hlatshwayo said some people were using old meter boxes, which contributed to the issue.

Eskom also confirmed residents were reluctant to pay.

“We will only restore supply to legal and paying customers on condition that the community allows safe access to Eskom staff to conduct audits and remove illegal connections,” said spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha.

READ MORE: Power problems in north to be a thing of the past

“Equipment failures are primarily due to illegal connections which lead to overloading. This in turn results in the failure of transformers and mini-substations.

“This is exacerbated by meter tampering, electricity theft and vandalism of infrastructure.”

Mantshantsha said such acts had a significant negative impact on Eskom’s operations, finances and the safety of its employees.

“In some areas, Eskom technicians have not been allowed to conduct these audits. This causes repeated equipment failures, which makes power restoration a wasteful exercise.”

However, residents were adamant they had not received any feedback on the power cuts.

They told Rekord it had been hard for them to live without electricity.

READ MORE: Tshwane ready to generate own power

“We have to wake up each and every single day and see where we will charge our appliances,” said Andrie Mabena.

“Since December we have not had electricity. We understand electricity is a problem in all parts of the country, but to us it is no longer load shedding.”

Mabena claimed residents were in fact paying for electricity and for repairs, but still remained in the dark.

Business owner,Simon Mokwena says he can’t use his fridges because of power cuts.

He said they threw away spoiled food during the festive season and now they could no longer buy any food due to power cuts.

“We are no longer buying food. How can we continue living like this?

“Can the government officials not fix our electricity issues? Some of our residents need medication that is kept in refrigerators,” he said.

“If we do not have electricity for this long, what do you think happened to those people? Their lives are in danger.”

Anna Mabena (70) said all her social grant money was going to candles and paraffin.

“The paraffin smells bad and affects my health.”

Local resident and student Mahlatse Nhlapo said he was forced to use candles to study for his exams.

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“It is really a challenge to everyone to actually adapt to using a candle and inhaling the smell of paraffin every day,” said Nhlapo.

A business owner Simon Mokwena said: “We have raised our grievances to the councillor, but we haven’t received any response from him. We don’t know why we don’t have electricity.”

Lewiza Ndlovu said businesses were being affected.

“We have lost everything as business owners. The only thing keeping our shops open is paraffin and candles, which we have to buy.

“We spend R300 per day to get a generator working so that we can charge residents’ phones whenever we can.”

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.

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