Almost 150 homes in Naledi Extension 2, Soweto, have been without electricity since April after a car drove into a feeder substation, causing it to explode.
Since the incident, residents have complained of increased crime in the area while some businesses which survived Covid-19 restrictions have now been further crippled by the loss of electricity.
Community leader and entrepreneur Nqoba Maseko's tavern has shut down due to the power failure. Maseko has also lost three of his five tenants.
“I started my business in 2007 after I lost my job. This business had restored my dignity as a man as I have been able to support my children and wife,” said the frustrated 52-year-old. “Not even Covid-19 was able to knock me out ... only for this electricity issue to bring me to my knees. I am desperate.”
The community says it has not received any help from Eskom despite reporting the issue to the company on several occasions.
It is also alleged that their mini-substation box was dispatched on June 28.
“If this was a situation where Eskom tried to engage us and we were being difficult, then that would be a completely different story. Now no one has come to us even when we are open to solutions. That means we don’t matter, right?” Maseko asked.
A few houses down the street, the Molefe family lost 67-year-old Mamagoa Lydia Molefe two months after she burnt while trying to light up a fire.
The accident happened one cold evening in May when Molefe was lighting up the fireplace and poured paraffin on the wood so that it could catch fire quicker. But the flames leaped up and burned her.
“I was in the kitchen when it all happened and I heard her scream, only to meet her half-way as she was rushing towards me. I took off my gown to help put out the fire. Our screams caught the attention of my brother and his friends outside who came rushing in and someone threw a bucket of water over her,” said Molefe's daughter Nthabiseng.
They rushed her to Tshiawelo Clinic only to be discharged on the basis that her wounds were only “superficial”. She went to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital the next day to treat blisters that had appeared on her hand, only to discover that her wounds were in fact severe.
She died on July 7 from septic infection.
“We are still in shock and trying to cope because mama was the pillar of this house. Now we are left to figure out things while also trying to make sense of the situation,” Nthabiseng said.
In another part of Naledi, called Driehoek, five mini-substations exploded last month leaving more than a thousand households without power.
Another taverner, Mary Molepo, 54, said her business of 23 years which supports six households, has also suffered.
“After Covid came and went, I was encouraged to pick things up again. Now with the electricity issue, I don’t see the business surviving. I started this business because of poverty and after so many years of working hard, we are thrust back to square one?”
Molepo grew up in Naledi and is disheartened by the lack of improvement in the area.
“We are the forgotten people. The only time you will see the government coming here is during June 16 commemorations to Naledi High School... otherwise nobody cares.”
The five mini-substations blew up at different intervals between March and July.
A few streets away, 91-year-old Mapitso Makolomakoe has opted to place her insulin injections on the floor to keep them cold because her fridge doesn't work.
Makolomakoe lives with seven of her children and grandchildren who are all unemployed and depend on her social grant money.
“I don't even know if what I am doing with my injections is right or not. I just don't want to die from untreated diabetes,” she said.
malibaa@sowetan.co.za
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