LIMPOPO – Residents of Manenzhe, Mapakoni, Muswodi Dipeni and Matshena villages have been without electricity for several days, with no clear explanation about the cause of the problem.

Thousands of households left in the dark

They claim that power cuts in the area have been ongoing for many years and remain unresolved. More than 3 000 households in the affected communities have previously experienced outages lasting for months.

According to residents, the problem has now spread beyond the initial areas, with additional households also affected by the persistent power failures.

Dozens of businesses have been severely impacted, with some owners alleging they have been forced to close their operations.

Eskom, as the electricity supplier, has been criticised by residents for failing to address the situation, as power cuts have become a regular occurrence.

Community members also complain that their calls to Eskom have been in vain, as they receive reference numbers but no clear information about the cause of the outages or when electricity will be restored.

Residents count losses

Residents say it is painful to see neighbouring areas with electricity while they continue to live in the dark despite reporting the matter.

One of the residents, Mavis Mudanalo of Tshena, said she has suffered significant losses since last month, including spoiled food that had to discarded.

“I feel ashamed. Eskom treats us like people who steal electricity from them, and this is not fair,” Mudanalo said.

She added that several residents had lodged complaints since last year and were told that technicians would conduct planned maintenance, but they never arrived.

“Living in the dark without electricity is very costly. Candles, matches and paraffin have to be bought every day.

“There is no point in buying meat or milk in bulk because it will all go to waste. We now survive mostly on bread,” she said.

Another resident from Matshavhawe, Shadrack Phuravhathu, said they have been experiencing the prolonged outages since February 28.

“Eskom promised to fix the problem, but we are still waiting. We do not know what is happening or how long it will last. We are not even sure whether they will honour their promise. It is a very challenging situation for us.

“Our children need to do homework, and we cannot continue using candles or cellphone torches. Some of us have to prepare food for our children at night,” he said.

Phuravhathu added that the outage has had a particularly negative impact on poorer families in the area.

“Some of these families have not eaten a proper meal for days,” he said, appealing to the municipality to intervene.

Businesses forced to find alternatives

The power outage has also become a major source of frustration for businesses that were unprepared and have already suffered financial losses.

Many business owners were forced to dispose of hundreds of rands worth of food from their fridges and freezers.

A local businessman, Hendrick Pilani, said the blackout has had serious consequences for businesses.

“The outage took us by surprise, and we were forced to move most of our stock to another shop because we do not have standby generators. If we did not have a Plan B, we would be talking about massive losses today,” he said.

Eskom blames floods for ongoing delays

Eskom spokesperson Takalani Thenga explained that the power outage was caused by electricity poles that were swept away by heavy rains during the February floods in the Nwandedi River, which supplies electricity to the area.

He said technicians have been waiting for water levels in the river to drop in order to access the site and repair the damaged lines.

He added that recent rainfall last week also contributed to further delays, as additional poles were affected by flooding.