Dale T McKinley gives a personal account of a protest march against power cuts in Soweto
Seventy-three-year-old pensioner Mapule Mathole* shares her four-roomed house in Klipspruit, Soweto, with her five grandchildren, all of whom are unemployed and depend on her R540 monthly pension. She has an Eskom bill for R40 000.
Even though her electricity was cut off in early 1999 because she was unable to keep up with rising payments, she has received monthly Eskom bills of R450. Despite repeated appeals to Eskom, the Johannesburg Metro Council and her local African National Congress councillor, Mathole keeps getting the same answer: “Pay up or shut up.” She is angry and has had enough.
Mathole, along with about 200 other pensioners and youths, gathered at Pimville Square on Tuesday March 13 to take part in a Pimville-Klipspruit Residents’ Committee (PKRC) march on Eskom’s Diepkloof offices.
Despite her troublesome diabetes, 78-year-old Nomvula Shange* is determined to make the 3km march. Her electricity was cut off in late 1998 and she now has an Eskom bill for R13 000 that she cannot even begin to pay. She joins the marchers, holding high a placard that reads, “New South Africa Same old suffering.” Some prefer a more confrontational tone: “Stop bribes on pensioners Eskom. You will burn in Hell,” while others seek to remind the governing ANC of their electoral promises “Baba Mbeki, where is the free electricity?”
One of the PKRC leaders, charismatic former ANC councillor Trevor Ngwane, says that the PKRC is operating in a hostile environment. He points to the obvious lack of enthusiasm from other political parties and civics operating in the area for the more militant stance adopted by the PKRC. “People are being disempowered and now the frustrations are beginning to come out,” says Ngwane.
Those frustrations are evident as the marchers make their way to the Eskom offices. Pensioners and youths toyi-toyi in the middle of the road, shouting slogans about Eskom “having no respect” and about how they “have had enough” and are going to “crush” those responsible for their suffering.
PKRC chair Dudu Mphenyeke tries to put things in context. “Eskom is deaf to our pleas and we want to shake them up. The policy of privatisation and its ‘cost recovery’ approach to basic services like electricity have led to so many problems. Why must the people in our communities, most of whom are unemployed, suffer?” she asks. Just then, another marcher runs by carrying a placard with an appropriate riposte: “The rich get richer. The poor get poorer.”
When the marchers reach the Eskom offices they are met by a group of immaculately dressed officials surrounded by a phalanx of burly policemen. Despite Ngwane’s reassurances that “this is a peaceful protest march”, Eskom customer services area manager Matthew Moumakoe looks decidedly uncomfortable as he leads his officials out from behind the electrified fencing to chants of “Asinamali” and “Phantsi Eskom”.
For the next hour Ngwane reads from a detailed PKRC memorandum outlining a host of grievances. The memo accuses Eskom of “intensified and indiscriminate cut-offs, giving no notice before cut-offs, haphazard reading of faulty meters, overcharging on accounts, bribery and corruption by Eskom officials who are often unidentifiable, no mercy for pensioners, the unemployed and the disabled and no consultation with the community by Eskom”.
The memo points out that Eskom’s tariff structure is “skewed against the residents of Soweto and in favour of the rich suburbanites and industry, so that the poorest people subsidise the low cost of electricity provision to the richest users”. It cites research done by the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee showing that residents in rural areas pay 48c a kWh and those in places like Soweto pay 28c a kWh, while Sandton residents pay 16c a kWh and big business pays only 7c a kWh. “This built-in structural injustice is why Soweto residents are failing to keep up with their payments and this trend is likely to continue with the privatisation of Eskom and other state assets.”
It is clear that the PKRC is in no mood for compromise. It demands that Eskom immediately “take steps to root out all bribery and corruption, stop all cut-offs, scrap all arrears, introduce a flat rate of R50 for all Soweto residents, provide free electricity for pensioners, unemployed and the disabled and consult with residents on all major electricity decisions”.
The crowd roars its approval when Ngwane challenges Eskom to make good on the government’s consideration of a basic package of lifeline services for all. The memo ends in a flourish: “We give Eskom seven days to give us an answer to our demands. The powerful will never listen to the powerless unless the latter stand up in defence of their rights. Our community has had enough.”
After the Eskom officials have signed the memorandum they beat a hasty retreat into their fortified compound. Indeed, the PKRC is planning to join a much bigger march in Soweto next week, planned by the Johannesburg Anti-Privatisation Forum to coincide with Human Rights Day.
* Assumed names have been used to protect the two individuals from victimisation