Electricity finally restored in Mamelodi and Nellmapius after protests
The residents protested for days demanding that the electricity be restored after spending almost five days without electricity.
The Tshwane metro restored electricity to Mamelodi and Nellmapius on Friday morning, after a power outage that lasted several days in some areas and prompted various protest actions by residents.
The outages were as a result of illegal power connections, according to the metro.
Power was restored after Tshwane metro police and police spent the morning removing illegal electricity connections in the area.
Residents, some of whom were without any electricity for as long as a week`, in certain areas, barricaded roads and demanded electricity be restored.
“It has come to our attention that there are people who work as officials by day and do illegal connections at night,” said Tshwane administrator Lebogang Mahaye.
“Officials found to be complicit in illegal connections will be dealt with. People are going to be fired.”
Mahaye, who is responsible for compliance and law enforcement, said the removal of illegal connections would continue in identified hot spots throughout the city.
She pleaded with the public to report any corrupt officials.
“Between cable theft and illegal connections, we are losing a billion rand in revenue in losses on electricity alone,” Mahaye said.
“Law enforcement should inspect scrap yards for any stolen cables belonging to the metro. We need to close down that illegal electricity market.”
READ MORE: Parts of east still without power
Major roads in both Mamelodi and Nellmapius were blocked with rocks, rubbish and length of poles, as residents protested the power outage.
Some told Rekord they could not take poor service delivery from the metro anymore, especially as temperatures plummeted.
“I don’t blame residents when they take their frustration to the streets like this,” said local resident Ben Mashakane.
“It is winter and it is freezing cold. Worst of all, our children are forced to take cold baths before going to school,” he said.
“We pay for services every month, only to go back to using candles again because of illegal connections. The metro needs to deal with this problem decisively,” he said.
“They must make sure there are no more illegal connections in Mamelodi and Nellmapius.
Protesting residents were not hooligans, he said.
“They have no choice but to protest. After all, they have been without any electricity for the whole week.
“The metro must make this a priority and not wait a whole week to fix any outages.”
Residents told Rekord metro officials told them that the outage was a result of a transformer which was overloaded because of illegal power connections.
“They said that if the connections were not halted, the outages would continue and therefore we must work with the police to put a halt to these connections,” they said.
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