Eldorado Park residents closed multiple roads with rocks and burning tyres on April 18 after spending four days without power in Ext 8.

Affected routes include Boundary Road, Turf Avenue, John Scott Road and Edward Baatjies.

Motorists are being turned back as frustrated residents demand urgent intervention.

According to residents, the power went out on Wednesday night (April 15), resulting in spoiled food and medication that requires refrigeration.

They also claim the prolonged outage created an opportunity for criminals to steal cables, while children have been unable to attend school.

Ward 17 Clr Dwain Ponsonby explained that the outage stems from an earlier fault in the week.

Technicians initially attended to the issue and restored electricity in parts of the area, but during the process, cables failed due to excessive strain and heat, particularly along Epsom Street.

This left the surrounding areas, including John Scott and Barbery Road, without electricity from Wednesday to Saturday.

The councillor said the ongoing delay in repairs has deepened community frustration, with residents reporting that although the fault was logged and allocated, contractors failed to arrive.

He attributed this to broader operational challenges, alleging that the city currently lacks funds to pay contractors, many of whom have not been paid for months.

He further noted that similar outages have become increasingly frequent in recent months, with some streets previously left without power for up to five days.

This, he said, reflects a growing gap between service delivery plans on paper and the lived reality on the ground.

City Power teams have since been dispatched to the area following an escalation to management.
The councillor assured residents he would remain on site until electricity is fully restored.

Soweto Urban has sent a media enquiry to City Power to investigate what caused the delayed response.