Delft’s tsunami of electricity woes

RESIDENTS of Section 29 in Delft have been plunged into the dark ages.

For the past three years they have been living without electricity.

Resident Bongile Damba said the problem began after the development of an informal settlement close to the area. She alleged the residents of the informal settlement “stole” electricity from electrical poles and transformers, which led to them being inactive.

Damba said living without electricity for three years had been an unbearable burden. He said despite having written to the City of Cape Town and Eskom, their pleas for assistance had not been heard.

“I have to wash my children with cold water, because the cost of gas is expensive and it lasts two weeks. Because there are no working street lights, the streets get very dark very early and this has resulted in an increase in rapes and crimes in our area.”

Sihle Qambela, a matric student, said studying by candlelight had negatively impacted her academic productivity at home, especially in a period where most children were spending a lot of time working from home.

“As a student, I am pleading for intervention. Sometimes we do not even have money to constantly be buying candles to study. This issue is affecting my education, which is the only path I have to get out of poverty.

“We are asking for empathy and assistance. A lot of our parents are unemployed because of the pandemic and we are asking to be heard. We know that we do not have money,authority or privilege because we are black, but as a young black child I am asking to be heard.”

Resident Nokhanyo Hoboshe, 61, said the use of candles, paraffin and gas were not the safest method, and her daughter’s bed was set alight by a candle while she was studying. She added her daughter was forced to continue studying by candlelight, without access to online learning.

Bukelwa Wanyaza said their attempts to resolve the issue as a community were in vain. She said they went to Eskom and met with a branch manager who was unable to assist them. They also had a meeting with the City of Cape Town, to no avail.

Wanyaza said her child was experiencing chest problems due to an over-exposure to paraffin fumes. She said the problem was ongoing, as paraffin heaters were the only alternative option the family had for warmth, boiling and cooking.

Eskom’s stakeholder management and industry support department said they were aware some of their customers in the area of Delft were experiencing an intermittent loss of electricity supply due to illegal connections from the Tsunami informal settlement.

In partnership with the Western Cape provincial government and their appointed developers, Eskom was to finalise electrification of a TRA (Temporary Relocation Area) in order to relocate some Tsunami occupants. Eskom could only electrify Tsunami once the plans were finalised by the Western Cape provincial government and the area had been proclaimed.

Eskom expressed concern regarding the safety risk posed by illegal electricity connections, saying it could cause injury to citizens.

“There are areas in Delft where Eskom is battling to prevent illegal connections and vandalism that severely affects the electricity network, often causing outage among customers.”

Eskom said their technical staff regularly conducted network audits and removed illegal connections in order to restore electricity supply to paying

customers. However, when operators left the area, the illegal connections were replaced. They called on community members to assist by reporting illegal connections electricity theft, tampering, cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure.

Report incidents by contacting the Eskom Toll-Free Crime Hotline 0800 11 27 22.