Despite demands for a solution to a decade-old problem, a Sir Lowry’s Pass community is left battling continuous electricity-supply disruptions allegedly as a result of illegal connections.
The matter came under the spotlight again after disgruntled members of the Sun City informal settlement took to the streets in protest over power outages due to alleged criminal offences in addition to load shedding on Wednesday 21 September.
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Services, said they responded to an emergency call from on-scene Law Enforcement officers at 18:20.
Firefighters from Sir Lowry’s Pass Fire Station were dispatched and, on arrival, found quantities of rubbish and tyres set alight by protestors near the first traffic circle on Sir Lowry’s Pass Road coming from the N2 towards Sun City. “Escorted by Law Enforcement officers the Fire and Rescue Service crew managed to extinguish the fire at 18:55,” said Carelse.
According to an affected Sun City resident, being left without electricity for more than 24 hours and having to cope with bouts of load shedding on top of this is what spurred protestors to taking to the streets that evening.
The resident further said the problem springs from illegal connections by members of a neighbouring community located along the railway line.
“Sun City residents often have to deal with the consequences of such perpetrators,” said the resident, highlighting two further instances where a fellow resident suffered the loss of her child’s school clothes, which had caught alight on the washing line when fire erupted, and a man was killed when he was shocked to death – both allegedly as result of illegal connections in the residential area.
“When Sun City residents try to prevent these connections the perpetrators become aggressive and altercations arise. So residents did what they know will get someone to attend to the matter.”
Ward 84 councillor Norman McFarlane on enquiry provided further insight, saying there is significant background to the matter and explained Sir Lowry’s Pass Village is an Eskom supply area – meaning the City of Cape Town plays no role in energy provision apart from the street lighting system. The said community, Bloekombos, is located on Transnet-owned land, bordering High Riding Estate to the south and Sun City to the north.
“It is an informal settlement, which the City can do nothing to formalise and assign house numbers, a prerequisite for Eskom to provide an electricity supply,” McFarlane explained.
“So Bloekombos residents resort to illegal connections to the nearest Eskom infrastructure (Sun City) to get an electricity feed.”
He said illegal connections are generally made by individuals who extract a fee for their services from Bloekombos residents, and to two transformers that supply the legal Eskom subscribers of Sun City in Van Aarde, Gisela, and Allen streets.
“It is such illegal connections that routinely overload these two transformers, causing the circuit breakers to trip-out and deprive Sun City residents of electricity,” McFarlane pointed out.
“This typically happens at periods of high demand, mostly in the late afternoon and early evening.”
He added that once the trip-out has been reported to Eskom, and a reference number issued and forwarded to him, he is in a position to escalate the matter, which he routinely does, in the hope that the power utility will respond rapidly.
“Eskom’s response times to such trip-out events are lengthy, for reasons best known to Eskom. To complicate matters, Eskom is reluctant to deploy technical staff in an area where their lives may be at risk due to militant behaviour, including boisterous protest action and tyre burning and blocking of roads, to deny access.
“It is an enduring irony that the community’s protest action in such instances is a deterrent to Eskom attending to the trip-outs, as occurred on the evening of Wednesday.”
According to McFarlane, he met with the community on Wednesday evening and listened to their demands, which include that all illegal connections be cut regularly, an additional transformer be erected so that Sun City residents’ supply can be isolated from the illegal connections from Bloekombos; and Eskom attends a site-visit with the community to discuss a permanent solution to the problem.
“I have passed on these demands to Eskom, and I await a response,” said McFarlane, adding that as ward councillor he has no authority over Eskom and can only request that such matters be attended to as speedily as possible.
Eskom spokesperson Kyle Cooksen said they are aware of the concerns by Sun City residents regarding the constant electricity supply issues experienced in the area especially over the past few months.
“Technicians have repeatedly been called out to remove the illegal connections and restore the electricity supply. However, once repairs are completed and electricity supply is restored, the illegal connections are replaced as soon as technicians leave the area,” he said.
Cooksen also told DistrictMail & Helderberg Gazette that Eskom received the demands on Friday (30 September) and the outcome of the meeting which still needs to be set up, will be shared with McFarlane.
