Police disperse residents protesting over electricity

POLICE fired rubber bullets to disperse a group of protesters in Delft yesterday who were demanding electricity for their new subsidised houses in the N2 Gateway.

About 50 residents burnt tyres in front of the Housing Development Agency’s (HDA) office before smashing its windows. The residents said they had been waiting for electricity since December, when they first moved into their houses.

“This is the eighth month that we’ve been without lights,” resident Kenneth Nielsen said, adding that he spent R600 of his pension on rent, candles and cooking gas.

“What then do I get from my pension? How am I supposed to live?”

Another resident, Thabiso Mapalane, said without electricity their area was not safe.

A member of the SAPS fires rubber bullets at the fleeing crowd of the N2 Gateway residents in Delft. Photo: Brenton Geach

INLSA

There had been six murders in the past three weeks, he said.

“This area is close to a dark forest which presents criminals with a hiding place.”

Mapalane added that some houses had been burgled while a house was set alight when a burning candle had fallen over.

N2 Gateway Area Committee leader Brian Macaba said when they had moved into the new houses, HDA promised them that the area would have electricity by January.

“However, Eskom didn’t do the work and the developers later promised us that they would electrify the area in April,” Macaba said.

The residents said that, after nothing had happened in April, they were told they would have electricity in June, but that had not transpired.

On June 20, Eskom wrote to the community to say that the electrification process would start at the beginning of this month.

According to a copy of the letter, Eskom assured the community that it was committed to delivering electricity to the area.

“As per our discussions (at the) Friday meeting (which was) held on site, Eskom wants to apologise for the delay in electrifying the area.

“Please be advised that Eskom promises to be on site beginning of August 2011 to start electrification,” the letter read in part.

Eskom spokeswoman Jolene Henn denied that Eskom was behind schedule.

She said she did not know why the residents had taken to the streets without informing them.

“Eskom is currently on site as per the communicated construction date, which is August 1, 2011,” Henn said.

She added that the site was handed over to the Eskom contractor on Monday in the presence of community leaders as well as the councillor’s representatives for the Delft Symphony Precincts 1 and 2.

Residents, however, have denied this and say no work has been done by Eskom or its contractor this week.

- Cape Times

Du Noon residents demand electricity

Every month Kockjeu Mpiyake pays about R300 in order to run electricity from an illegal connection to a nearby RDP house.

Mpiyake, who lives in Ekuphumleni informal settlement in Du Noon, uses it to lighting and to power his television and radio, but cannot use other electrical appliances such as a washing machine, electric heater or stove.

The RDP house he is illegally connected to supplies electricity to ten other shacks, resulting in frequent power cuts due to overloading.

Having been in this situation for nine years, 61-year-old Mpiyake, who has nine children and two wives, has had enough.

He joined over 100 other residents in a march to the Eskom office in Table View on Thursday morning to protest against the lack of electricity supply to their area.

Carrying knobkieries and placards stating “No more waiting. We want electricity”, the residents gave Eskom officials an ultimatum to install electricity in their area within a week or they would uproot and burn electricity poles in the township.

Mpiyake said what angered the residents was that Eskom had promised to supply electricity to the informal settlement in 2009 but had not honoured their promise.

“People use candles and paraffin stoves and when they are drunk they leave the candle and the stove burning which result in shack fires,” said Mpiyake.

Nobongile, Mfuniseli, 55, said she had been paying about R300 a month for electricity simply to light her shack.

Mfuniseli said she had to use a paraffin stove for cooking and heating, resulting in a persistent cough from the fumes.

She said if she could afford to pay for illegal electricity she could afford to pay for legal electricity meter.

Bruce Jongile, 29, the constant danger of shack fires due to illegal connections and the use of paraffin stoves meant residents were afraid to buy goods to improve their standard of living as there was always a chance they would lose everything in a fire.

Community leader Chris Matomera said Eskom had promised to electrify their informal settlement in 2009 and undertaken to engage with residents on a monthly basis, but this had not happened.

Eskom Western Cape spokesperson Jolene Henn said the informal settlement was on Eskom’s priority list and would be electrified this year.

Henn said funds were available in their 2011/12 budget to be used for this purpose.

“You can’t just go into an area and put a line in. We explained to them how the process works and it takes some time. Funds are available for electrification of the area,” said Henn

She said electricity would be provided to 300 households by the end of the current financial year.

– West Cape News

Electricity protest turns ugly

Fourteen Rylands residents and a baby are in police custody after a protest over electricity became violent.

Stones were hurled at officers, who retaliated by using a water cannon and stun grenades. The protesters also stoned motorists on Pooke Road, alongside their informal settlement on a stretch of privately-owned land, and threatened workers walking in the area.

At the moment, only toilets at the back of the settlement have electricity, but the residents - some who have been without power for more than two decades - do not.

When the Cape Times team arrived at the Pooke se Bos settlement yesterday, black smoke could be seen rising from the burning tyres and debris blocking the road. Rocks and stones were strewn on the tar.

A group of about 60 residents were shouting at heavily armed officers watching them.

"Give us electricity. We've waited so long. We don't want to fight with you. Just help us," a woman shouted.

Another said she had waited for electricity for 21 years.

Sitting in his shack nearby, a resident, who did not want to be named, said living without electricity was "exhausting".

"It's tough. Especially when it's cold, we suffer. I cook with gas and struggle to keep my place warm. It's not fair," he said.

Police officers then warned the group of residents, milling around on the pavement and threatening to stones cars, to disperse. After a few warnings they had still refused to do so. An officer then threw two stun grenades nearby, causing them to run away. Officers then chased residents and warned them to stay indoors.

Police had earlier used a water cannon to disperse a group after stones were thrown at officers.

Athlone police spokesman Ian Bennett said 14 residents had been arrested for public violence. A baby girl was also being kept with her mother in police custody, at her mother's request.

Bennett said the 14 would appear in court by tomorrow.

Ward councillor Musthapha Murudker said the city council had initially not been able to provide the residents with electricity because they were on privately-owned land.

About two years ago, the land owner, Kanti Patel, had agreed to let the council install electricity, which had been provided to the toilets. Residents were promised power, but then, due to issues with Eskom, the city council had decided not to do this.

Murudker said he planned to visit the area and meet the residents' committee.

The Cape Times was not able to reach Patel yesterday. - Cape Times

Cut in electricity subsidy for poor targeted

Cape Town mayor Dan Plato is to meet Public Enterprises Minster Barbara Hogan to discuss the city's subsidy to Eskom to provide free basic electricity to households, a subsidy that costs the city more than R100-million.

Plato said that, to be fair to all indigent electricity users in Cape Town, the mayoral committee had recommended to the council that the city amend its policy of subsidising Eskom to provide free basic electricity to users in the Eskom supply area of the city.

About one-third of consumers in the metropole, mainly in rural areas, Table View, Khayelitsha and Parklands, buy electricity directly from Eskom, and the rest buy through the city council.

"It is recommended that the city reduce its subsidy to Eskom to provide free basic electricity to Eskom customers who use less than 250 kilowatt hours per month, and not to those who use less than 450kW hours, as it used to do," said Plato.

He said he would meet Hogan to discuss the issue.

"I've asked her to intervene for funding to fill the gap," Plato said.

In the meantime, the city will continue to provide free basic electricity to its own customers who use less than 450kW hours a month.

Plato said Eskom had changed its tariff structure so that domestic customers using more than 150kWh a month were paying significantly less than the equivalent City of Cape Town customers.

"The city therefore needed to review its free basic electricity subsidy to Eskom, so that the city's subsidy to Eskom did not result in Eskom's customers paying less than the city's own customers," he said.

Mayoral committee member for finance Ian Neilson said that all municipalities in the country subsidised Eskom by about two cents per kilowatt.

"Those two cents might not seem like much, but it's around R120-million.

"And the city is one of Eskom's biggest customers and it should be subsidised," Neilson said.

The ANC's Raymond Mrawu said the city should charge a cheaper tariff for everyone.

"I don't know why the city doesn't change. Eskom is more sympathetic to the poorest of the poor.

"It's very important for the city to follow Eskom," Mrawu said.

Cynthia Clayton of the Independent Democrats said electricity had become so expensive that the meter boxes in homes in her area had become like televisions.

"People are watching their boxes more than TV. It's a total rip-off for the poor. We're actually going backwards," Clayton said.

The city's new system slots consumers into a tariff band according to the amount of electricity they buy.

The basic price of electricity increased by an average of 25 percent at the beginning of the month, but several consumers the Cape Times spoke to have found that their bills have increased by 60 to 70 percent.

A pensioner in Gordon's Bay found herself paying 93.31 cents per unit compared to 53.31 cents per unit before the tariff change.

"A unit is equal to 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh).

"I was told by the municipality that if you purchase more units than you normally use, you will be placed in a higher band," she said.

A man in Claremont found himself in a similar situation.

"I would urge all pre-paid users to check their new costs of power, mine increased from 61 cents per unit to 106 cents per unit, a far cry from the 25 to 35 percent announced," he said

"Energy has become more expensive than it used to be and people need to understand that the more they use, the more they will be charged.

"Free basic electricity is still there for lower users," Neilson said.

Neilson said people needed to change their lifestyles and make use of cost-saving measures.

Jolene Henn, Eskom's regional communication and stakeholder manager in the Western Cape, said that all those customers within its electricity supply areas consuming up to 450kWh per month did receive free basic electricity.

"Eskom's direct domestic customers pay less for electricity than the city's, depending on the tariff and consumption level," she said.

- Cape Times

Boy electrocuted by illegal cable

A three-year-old boy has been electrocuted after he stepped on an illegal electricity cable.

Little Simamkele Mfazwe was still clutching the packet of chips he had just bought after he stepped on the live wire in Oscar Mpetha informal settlement, Nyanga.

Nolakhe Mfazwe, 41, said she was sitting with a friend on Monday afternoon when one of her neighbours came to tell her about what had happened to her son.

"I was listening to my neighbours talking about poor service delivery and lack of electricity in our area," she said.

"Then someone came to tell me Simamkele was dead.

"I rushed out and found him lying there with his mouth open. He was still holding the packet of chips and his eyes were bluish."

Nolakhe said a nearby resident Philiswa Khondyo, 37, explained that Simamkele was electrocuted after he walked on the wires that were lying on the ground.

"She said she saw a bright flash and the child fell on his back," she said.

Simamkele died on arrival at the KTC Day Hospital.

"I still can't believe that I have to go to bed without my son next to me. I can't believe he is dead," said the mother.

Nyanga police spokeswoman Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said she was aware of the incident and cops have opened an inquest docket. - Daily Voice

Eskom vows not to stop low-cost housing estates

Eskom and the national housing department were adamant last week that low-income housing projects were exempt from the moratorium on electricity application approvals for new developments requiring more than 100 kilovolt-amperes (kVA) of electricity.

This is despite some flagship low-income housing projects undertaken by public-private partnerships being grounded because Eskom has rejected their electricity applications.

Housing minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the government again confirmed that the moratorium had always excluded low-cost housing developments, projects that had already obtained the required electricity certificates and any property developments requiring less than 100kVA.

Andrew Etzinger, Eskom's general manager of resources and investment strategies, also confirmed that this was the official policy.

Sisulu issued this assurance after discussions with minerals and energy minister Buyelwa Sonjica and public enterprises minister Alec Erwin.

She said the power supply challenges could not be allowed to affect housing delivery to South Africa's poor and any lingering doubts on this matter must be laid to rest.

However, Sipho Mashini, the managing executive of Absa DevCo, confirmed last month that its appeal against the rejection of an application for bulk electricity supply to a flagship public-private partnership, mixed-housing development had been unsuccessful. The development, near Kagiso in Mogale City, was going to provide 9,315 residential units.

The Kagiso Azaadville development is a joint initiative between the Mogale City municipality, the Gauteng department of housing and Absa.

The Banking Association of SA said last month that Eskom's electricity supply problems had caused a major crisis for the low-cost housing market and warned that the move could unleash social instability if houses could not be built for this market over the next six years.

Pierre Venter, the association's financial services charter housing initiative co-ordinator, said property development had stopped because of the electricity crisis, while new approvals had been shelved.

In the Eastern Cape, a flagship R600 million low-income housing project in Port Alfred submitted an application to Eskom in February last year, but the project managers were told they must wait until the end of June or July for a response.

Called the Thornhill property development, it is being developed by Absa Devco, the Ndlambe local authority and the Eastern Cape housing department and aims to provide about 5,000 residential units.

Etzinger said he suspected the "apparent contradiction" between the official policy for low-cost housing and these examples stemmed from the definition applied by Eskom.

Eskom defined low-cost housing developments as those for which the government provided a subsidy towards the electricity infrastructure for the poor.

Etzinger advised developers that believed their applications had been wrongly rejected to approach Eskom's general manager responsible for the region where they planned to develop the project. He admitted that the policy was sometimes misinterpreted and it was appropriate for Eskom's general managers to handle appeals.

"It's a very sensitive issue and Eskom is happy to work with project developers and they must not think they have come up against a brick wall."

Etzinger said the criteria to be used by Eskom in prioritising new developments were in the final stages of development. They would be released next month, after approval by the government.

Eskom has not issued any new application approvals since it announced a moratorium, despite continuing to work on the technical evaluation and the infrastructure required for particular projects. - Business Report

Power crisis 'won't affect low-income housing projects'

New residential property developments will not be affected by electricity supply shortages, said Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu on Wednesday.

"She wants to reassure South Africans that electricity supply shortages will not affect new residential property developments requiring less than 100 kilowatts and low-income housing projects," the department said in a statement.

The Banking Association of SA last month raised concerns that perceptions created after Eskom's announcement of a "so-called moratorium" could negatively affect all future housing developments.

Sisulu said any lingering doubts on this matter now had to be laid to rest, particularly as Eskom itself on March 5 said it was not stopping any developments.

All those residential developments that had already applied and that had been given quotations, would see those quotations honoured.

"The power supply challenges can not be allowed to affect housing delivery to SA's poor and government's commitment to improve the living conditions of its citizens," Sisulu said. - Sapa

Western Cape housing project launches today

The province has a housing backlog of more than 400 000 units

Western Cape Local Government and Housing Minister, Richard Dyantyi, says his department will increase its annual target of building 16,000 houses now to 20,000.

The province has a housing backlog of more than 400,000 units. Dyantyi today launches a Housing project in Khayamandi near Stellenbosch.

The project, known as the Khayamandi Master Plan, aims to ease the plight of the shack fire victims currently housed in temporary structures.

- SABC