Glenda Daniels
Soweto residents are planning a case against Eskom and the government in the Constitutional Court as tension reaches boiling point over large-scale electricity disconnections.
This week Eskom launched more aggressive cut-offs, fuelling the crisis in one of South Africa’s biggest and poorest townships. On Thursday resi-dents held a mass meeting in Soweto to launch Operation Khanyisa (to light) to prepare for future action.
About 20 000 residents a month are being disconnected, as Eskom tries to recover its R1,2-billion debt of unpaid electricity in central Gauteng. In addition, illegal reconnections by over 50% of residents are costing Eskom R50-million a month.
It is a crisis point for Eskom but residents say the corporation is bungling the supply of electricity and using “hit-and-run methods, which stink”, as workers cut off electricity and reconnect it.
Soweto residents say chaos reigns as Eskom’s meters are either not working or unserviced. They are extremely unhappy about the high reconnection fees charged and the fact that Eskom uses “aggressive” outsourced companies which earn R70 a household a disconnection an incentive to cut off supply.
Many complain they receive two bills a month, one from the local council and another from Eskom’s head office, creating confusion. They claim there is rampant bribery between many Eskom officials and residents. They are also concerned about the safety of their children, as live wires are often left dangerously in the open.
The residents’ constitutional case will centre on their right to free electricity as part of basic services that the government promised, the abuse of their human rights as there is no notification before electricity is cut off, and the phenomenally high cost of electricity for the poorest of the poor.
Trevor Ngwane of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee says: “They come in without any prior notice and remove entire cables. There is no due process in their methods. We are planning a case with lawyers to take to the Constitutional Court.”
He says Eskom’s system of electricity supply is “unfair and discriminatory”, as shown by huge disparities: “People in Soweto are paying more for electricity than the people of Sandton. In Soweto, the cost of electricity is 28c a kilowatt a unit, in Sandton it’s 16c, big business is charged 7c, and the worse off, the rural areas, pay 48c.”
A study by the University of the Witwatersrand’s sociology department shows that Soweto has an unemployment rate of 40% and many youths depend on pensioners’ money for sustenance.
“The haywire handling of electricity bills can be seen in how some pensioners get wrong bills. One pensioner got a bill of R46 000. To get legally reconnected, people have to pay about R2 000 and the average income of a household with one earner is about R1 000 a month,” says Ngwane.
Legal Resources Centre attorney Geoff Budlender says that there is “no constitutional right to electricity” per se. However, he believes residents can challenge what is happening on the basis that proper procedures are not being followed, and this is a breach of their constitutional rights.
Budlender said Eskom is obliged to give notice of cut-offs, and even if councils are outsourcing the cutting off of electricity, Eskom has to take responsibility.
Isaac Rathete, of Diepsloot, says residents are upset enough to destroy Eskom power stations if they continue cutting electricity.
In Diepkloof, cables lay exposed in homes, while others have no meter boxes. Many people here have illegally reconnected to the power lines after their electricity supply has been cut.
Residents are also outraged because Eskom disconnects entire blocks at a time by removing circuit breakers, penalising those who do pay their bills along with those who don’t.
“I run a business and I have paid everything I am supposed to pay and still they cut me off,” says Mike Kgaole, who runs a tavern in Diepkloof.
Brian Johnson, the Eskom manager for Orlando East and West, says: “The aim is to disconnect at least 75% of Soweto residents.” He confirms that at least 20 000 households are disconnected every month.
Some residents allege corruption among workers who cut electricity, offering to reconnect electricity for payments of up to R1 000. Johnson says he has dismissed at least five workers recently for taking bribes.
“Our credit management system was in such a bad state that we had to make a business decision to increase revenue collection,” says Angie Dubbini, regional communication manager for Eskom.
Eskom’s debt collection problems date back to the early 1990s when township residents boycotted rate payments. The boycott has returned under democracy as a debt trap. “It is the African National Congress that put us in this mess when they told us to boycott rates payments … now they are not coming forward to help us,” says Virginia Setshedi, deputy-chair of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee.
Thulani Gcabashe, CEO of Eskom, said: “At the end of the day it’s about the viability of the industry. If there are difficulties they can make arrangements to pay; where there are faulty meters they can make it known; if consumption is incorrect, they can ask for an audit. If these actions are taken, they won’t be faced with cut-offs.”
Additional reporting by Scotch Tagwireyi and Nicolas Dieltiens