Community of Snake-Park at war for electricity

nobulawo Sitshaluza

Residents of Snake park block one have been living without electricity for two weeks. Our primary school Obed Mosiane and our local clinic  Siphumulile clinic  have also been heavily affected by this issue because nearby blocks like 5 , 6 . 7 , 9 have been without electricity from February 2022 . These community members decided to illegally cut down electric cables for other blocks so that Eskom can stop ignoring their issues and restore their electricity.

This has caused tension between community members, and it made people start fighting each other for electricity. The only blocks that had electricity were block two and block four the rest of our neighbourhood was dark without electricity. The councillor went to negotiate with Eskom on the issue but Eskom said that our area Snake-Park is one of the hotspots meaning people temper with transformers,they steal electricity, and they don’t want to pay for electricity.  They have cut down our electric cables every time Eskom wants to come and install prepaid boxes, community residents threaten to beat them up and most of the time they must be escorted by the police.

Living without electricity has affected us a lot, but I think it has affected the school more. Because there are no heaters in classes, and now it is winter time, I fear for our children the most because we are living in the times of Covid. We want Eskom to come and restore electric cables in our area.