TWO MONTHS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY

The Community of Ebony Park has spent a difficult two months without electricity.

The community has passed the stages of dissatisfaction, disappointment and anger. Community members are now used to lighting candles at night, bathing with cold water and charging cellphones elsewhere.

The problem started when a transformer failed due to overloading. The transformer caught fire on the 16th of July 2020 after Eskom’s load reduction implementation.

Load Reduction is implemented by the power utility in high density areas with instances of illegal connections, meter bypassing and overloading. The load reduction is implemented in mainly black townships.

The community of Ebony Park is not the only community that has been in the dark since the winter season. Thousands of households in Ebony Park, Ivory Park, Allandale and Kaalfontein have been without electricity for more than a month.

Crime has increased in the affected communities due to the lack of lighting.

Eskom has started fixing transformers at some areas in KAE and surrounding areas at a frustratingly slow pace.

A schedule from Eskom on when a number of transformers will be restored has been seen by KAE News. Some households will only have their lights switched back on towards the end of October.

Eskom is not prioritising the electricity crisis in KAE and Ivory Park. This is even after a shutdown, a letter to Eskom by Ward Councilors and numerous protest actions to Eskom headquarters.

Sadly, this is not the first time that KAE and Ivory Park communities are affected by prolonged power outages. However, 2020 is the year that has exacerbated the electricity crisis. It’s as if Eskom doesn’t care anymore.

We are in the process of instituting a class action civil lawsuit against Eskom and the Minister of Public Enterprises. Eskom must be held accountable.

It is an injustice that electricity paying customers are affected by Eskom’s failure and incompetence to provide reliable power.

Residents are urged to continue to email legal@kaenews.co.za with details of how Eskom has negatively affected you. Please include stand no, last electricity purchase and any other information we can present to attorneys.