Residents in Meadowlands Zone 8 took to the streets yesterday after three weeks of no electricity due to a exploded transformer.
Residents barricaded roads and burnt tyres in the morning and late afternoon.
The ward councillor Happyboy Molobye said he has logged a call with Eskom to solve the issue. “I went with some delegates from the community on July 5 and Eskom said they would provide feedback, I am currently awaiting feedback from Eskom about the matter,” said Molobye.
Residents wrote petitions and held meetings trying to get the matter resolved but to no avail.
Zone 8 resident Lillian Nemkondeni explained the grievances that they have as residents, “We haven’t had power for the past 3 weeks, when we personally go to Eskom they do not assist us because the councillor is supposed to write to Eskom on our behalf but no one is getting back to us about that ,” said Nemkondeni.
Another resident Magauta Mohlabane explained how the situation affected them as residents.
“This situation is problematic for us because we cannot get children ready for school and surviving on paraffin stoves and candles is not practical, we are running businesses they are suffering too,” said Mohlabane.
A meeting where a memorandum of understanding was submitted by various ward councillors to Eskom was held today where feedback was said to be provided in the next 7 days, residents however still remain in the dark.
On another related incident, angry residents in Protea 6 block 4 near Emndeni blocked the Emndeni Link Road yesterday in protest over electricity cut due to the transformer failure; this comes after they spent 5 weeks without electricity.
Emndeni Link Road was closed by protesters, the protesters threatened to continue with the protest until their electricity is restored.
According to the community leader Nyeko Mahlawule the electricity was cut off when Eskom was repairing the transformer.
Mahlawule said they reported the transformer to Eskom 3 months back when they noticed that it was oil leaking as they faired that it may burst.
“Eskom delayed to come and repair the transformer and when they did come they did not finish the community has been without electricity for 5 weeks, we have been in communication with them they said they will come to fix it but we waited long enough,” said Mahlwawule.
The protesters said the police started to shoot them with a rubber bullet when they attempted to block the R558 high way.
“The community got angry when they saw the councillor, myself and others communicate with the police without them that is when they started blocking the road,” he continued.
“I do not understand why the police were shooting at us because this was a peaceful protest we did not vandalize anything, the traffic lights are still standing we were not attacking motorist all we did was block the road because we can see that this the only way we will be listened to,” said Mahlawule.