Residents of Kwa-Thema in Springs have threatened to intensify their protest if electricity is not restored.
The residents, who have been without electricity for the past three weeks, went on a rampage, burning two municipal vehicles and damaging municipal buildings.
Community member Tebogo Choma said the lack of electricity is expensive and affects her pocket as she spends R50 on 2litres of petrol for a generator, R24 daily traveling to my family home to charge my cell phone.
Choma said crime was also rising due to the dark nights adding that they stole from her neighbour’s car while her husband feared leaving early for work for fear of being robbed.
“Our government doesn’t listen. Maybe when we protest, they will listen. Our demands are only attended to when we barricade roads,” Choma said.
Sibusiso Mthombeni, who runs a tyre-fitment centre and panel beater said he is losing customers.
“We can’t operate our machines to paint the cars. Everything is at a standstill. We have been in the dark for three weeks. We are losing customers. They are going to our competitors where their areas have electricity, Mthombeni said.
The City of Ekurhuleni Municipality Spokesperson strongly condemned the violent and what he called the barbaric acts.
“We can’t have a situation where you damage property because you want something. Resources that were meant for other things will have to go now and replace what had been vandalized,” he added.
He said the municipality’s offices remain closed as the safety of employees cannot be guaranteed.
“We are working hard to ensure that electricity is restored in the entire KwaThema. Some sections have electricity, and we hope that power will be fully restored very soon.
“We have been updating them. The only two areas we are currently restoring are KwaThema Extension 3 and Barcelona section. We are working around the clock to restore power. The worst part is the delays caused by the community.
“The community must allow our officials to do their job without hindrance.
We would have loved to restore the power much earlier, as it is winter. However, things beyond our control have delayed us. We hope to restore the power by this weekend.”
