City Power plans to electrify over 320 informal Settlement
|Published
City Power has embarked on a programme to disconnect illegal connections due to the threat that illegal connections and cable theft are posing to the electricity infrastructure.
City Power’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena on Wednesday said the issues of electrical capacity were the reason the municipality was implementing load reduction measures.
Mangena said they were in Kanana to conduct cut-offs to ensure that they freed up space on the network in order to be able to provide power to their customers.
“On our last count we were sitting at over 320 informal settlements within the city of Johannesburg, you can appreciate that is a huge number to get electrified in one financial year
“Every time we give our wish list to council to get budget for electrification and also talk to the Department of Human Settlements so that they can formalise that particular informal settlement, in order for us to provide electricity and bring services.
“That programme is continuous, it’s a moving target every financial year. We have a number of informal settlements that are earmarked and budgeted for electrification. This year we have four of them, two of them are around Midrand and two are around the inner city,” he added.
Mangena continued to say that City Power was also using solar microgrids, adding that pulling wires may take time and funding would be a major concern.
He further said that the people who were connecting power illegally were the ones who settled in a space not proclaimed by the Department of Human Settlements.
Mangena said this as community members in Kanana just outside Rabie Ridge in Tembisa were questioning why the city was not providing them with electricity after the settlement had been in existence for the past 30 years.
Thirty-two-year-old Xolile Jazzman told The Star that she was born and raised in Kanana and they have been without electricity since she was born.
Jazzman pleaded with the city to provide them with electricity, as many of them were willing to pay for their own electricity.
“I have been living here for the past 30 years, I was born here, raised here. We have councillors here, who know our plight. Why can’t they give us electricity? We will buy our own electricity. We elect councillors every local election hoping things will change, but the more they change, the more they remain the same.
“They are pushing us to use candles, and they know candles are dangerous and anything can happen while burning candles. Shacks can burn here,” she said.
Another Rabie Ridge resident, Zanele Mabusela, said the municipalities should get Kanana residents their own electricity as that would resolve many things. She said they were currently suffering from endless power-tripping.
“We see City Power and metro police are here to switch off electricity and that’s a good thing but my frustration is that these people have been here for the past 30 years. When they go to the city and request for electrification, they are told to go to Housing.
“Why can’t Housing people come here to resolve this problem? Can the City provide these people with electricity while they are waiting for Housing to come to them,” Mabusela added.
However, Mangena said Kanana was not part of the informal settlement that was earmarked for electrification this year or next year, partly because people who are not being electrified are the same ones settled where they are not supposed to be.
He said the people who are connecting these illegal connections were the ones stealing City Power’s resources in order to make money from the sale of the electricity that they steal themselves.
“What these people are doing is criminal, as what they were doing is tantamount to economic sabotage and that’s a serious crime. We are engaging with law enforcement authorities to ensure that these people get arrested, especially the ring leaders who are responsible for this operation.”
The Star
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