100 DAYS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

Today marks 100 days since the community of Ebony Park Ext 4 last had electricity. The community has not had electricity since the 16th of July when the nearby transformer failed and caught fire.

The transformer caught fire after Eskom implemented load reduction in Ebony Park and surrounding areas. Load reduction is ironically implemented in high density areas (townships) to avoid overloading and equipment failure.

Since the transformer in the area caught fire. The community has attempted to have the transformer replaced or repaired. Eskom has seemingly been unwilling to restore the electricity in the area. In a recent internal memo which KAE News has seen, the transformer is set to be replaced on the 26th of October 2020 which is more than 3 months later.

It takes the power utility a maximum of 48 hours to ensure that electricity is restored in predominantly white suburbs. Sadly, the community of Ebony Park Ext 4 is not the only community in townships that has had prolonged power outages. They are thousands of households in Ebony Park, Ivory Park and Kaalfontein that have also been affected by the power utility’s incompetence to protect it’s assets in township areas.

The main reason that electricity equipment fails and load reduction is implemented is because of over loading caused by illegal connections and meter bypassing.

We have abandoned our planned court case against the power utility. In a recent court case the South Gauteng High Court held that Eskom has a right to terminate electricity supply in non paying customers.

We have found that majority of households in our area do not purchase electricity legally. They have illegal connections set up or they have bypassed meters. “buy one get one” electricity vouchers are also rife. This means very few households actually buy electricity legally. Consequently, our legal action’s prospects of success are very slim.

We urge community members who buy electricity legally to continue doing so for a stable electricity supply in KAE. Report illegal connections to Eskom on 0800 11 27 22 (toll-free).

In terms of holding Eskom accountable. You may take the State to account at the polls next year.