Local residents march to Eskom offices in Diepkloof to make demands

United Front together with Climate Justice Coalition and Extinction Rebellion (ER) Gauteng marched to the Eskom offices in Diepkloof on Wednesday last week.

These activists and residents were protesting against climate change and electricity related issues.

Due to the constant heat wave currently taking place and the ongoing electricity issues, frustrated activists sang songs of liberation demanding Eskom to provide solutions to electricity generation which does not affect climate change.

Malik Oasoo, representing ER highlighted that, “It is not supposed to be this hot in March and the reason for this heat is companies like Eskom that are pumping more pollution into our solar and we are left to suffer because of them.”

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They hosted their protest a day before Human Right’s Day to demonstrate that living in a clean environment is a basic human right for all.

The message they also wanted to convey was that preciously disadvantaged townships are the ones suffering the most from load shedding and climate change.

“Who in this country has access to safe, affordable and reliable electricity? No one and the government keep on failing us year after year. We refuse to have our constitutional rights thrown away,” said Oasoo addressing Eskom representatives.

According to Eunice Manzini from Voices of Poor Concerned Citizens, the freedom that they fought for and lost their lives for was not meant to subject them into load shedding. She said they are not fighting a recurring struggle for the poor but the liberation of all black people.

“I feel sad for us old people because when we voted in 1994, we never voted for prepaid water and electricity. But here we are today expected to pay for these two with our pension grant,” said Manzini.

In response to the memorandum presented to Eskom, representatives of the power utility could not give residents a proper response regarding South Africa’s weather patens as well as the state of load shedding.

They claimed that they were caught by surprise and therefore could not provide answers about current issues because their company deals with multiple energy supply related matters.

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When addressing the protestors, Harry Mtshali, Eskom Diepkloof representative said, “The memorandum touched on a lot of things and at Eskom we deal with a lot of things.

“Responding today will mean that we are giving you a by the way response. It is better to give us seven days to sit down and come up with answers to all presented issues.”

After the memorandum of demands was accepted, the power utility promised to have answers and respond by April 3.