Eskom switches off Cape Town substation
Eskom has decided to switch off the mini substation in Makhaza 37 Section, Khayelitsha in Cape Town, after constant vandalism and illegal connections.
Image for illustration purposes.
South Africa, Cape Town: Eskom has decided to switch off the mini substation in Makhaza 37 Section, Khayelitsha in Cape Town, after constant vandalism and illegal connections.
The decision taken in October has left the community battling with power outages. Despite being affected by the decision, ward councillor Ayanda Tetani understands Eskom’s action. “I cannot give out proof of addresses to residents or verify lists from the database. I cannot do anything that has to do with providing services to community members,” he said. “But we cannot blame Eskom for this. A transformer was installed a week ago but it didn’t last long — it was vandalised in the second week. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, so I understand where Eskom is coming from,” he added.
Luyolo Mdana, a 40-year-old resident, called on Eskom to find a solution to illegal connections, especially those affecting paying customers. “We cannot continue like this; we are suffering because of people who don’t want to wait for their time to get electricity, and our appliances get destroyed because of them. Eskom must find a solution to illegal connections, especially those affecting paying customers,” he said.
Eskom’s coastal cluster general manager Mbulelo Yedwa emphasized the need for a partnership between Eskom and the community to fight theft and vandalism and said, “Vandalising Eskom infrastructure leads to prolonged unplanned outages for our communities and paying customers. We need the community to take a stand against electricity-related crimes so that we can bring the perpetrators to justice.”
Source: Scrolla Africa