Over 300 families in Soweto have been left stranded without electricity by Eskom for over nine months after failing to pay their arrears.
Resident Junior Nkosi from Mofolo said in his area, 82 houses have been without electricity for eight months. "We decided to stop paying the electricity because we were being overcharged and we were also promised prepaid meter boxes," said Nkosi.
Nkosi said the community also suspected corruption among Eskom technicians because they were allegedly selling equipment used for the maintenance of the mini-substation and circuit breakers.
"The issues in our area date back as far as two years. We have had an incident where a technician was found selling circuit breakers to another section and we realised that was the reason our electricity supply transformers always had problems," he said.
Nkosi said the crime in the area has also increased because of darkness.
Charles Hlabahlaba of Central West Jabavu said the community feels punished for being poor. "Most of our area has elderly people and most of us are unemployed, so we cannot afford to pay ridiculous rates from faulty meter readings.
"We just want Eskom to restore our lights and put us into long-term payments arrangements so we can pay what we can afford."
Hlabahlaba said life has been uncomfortable in the past nine months. "Who really deserves such punishment? We have to buy candles, use paraffin stoves and we cannot even cook a decent meal. We live on bread because we don't have electricity," said the frustrated father of three.
Hlabahlaba said his children struggle when getting ready for school in the mornings.
He said he always ensures that he has paraffin to prepare hot water for bathing, making them breakfast before school and preparing their lunch boxes.
Sibusiso Thenjwayo said his disabled friend who lived alone was burnt to death in September by a generator that he used.
Eskom spokesperson Reneiloe Semenya said unfortunately there were about 80% of customers who are not servicing their accounts, putting the power utility under strain to continue to restore, repair and replace transformers in such areas.
She said the area was faced with a huge challenge of non-payments that has resulted in Eskom no longer servicing the area.
Semenya said Eskom wants to engage customers who are not paying their electricity bills in an arrangement to pay their arrears to resolve the situation.
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