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Yesterday, I visited residents of Soweto to see and hear first-hand what they are going through with the supply of electricity, on top of a range of service delivery issues.

This crisis was apparent in Soweto Zone 9, where a City Power transformer had blown up and left residents to survive on their own generators.
The state of electricity supply in Soweto has been a burning issue for residents for many years but there has been no actual plan to resolve it.

While Eskom is responsible for most of the supply of electricity to Soweto, illegal connections, by-passed meters and backyard dwellers have unfortunately added severe strain to the fragile power grid where demand remains high, while supply remains low.

This results in a faster breakdown of substations and transformers, which only intensifies the problem. Some residents experience multiple outages a day, while some residents are left without power for up to six months. The explosions of transformers and constant outages also cause damage to resident’s appliances.

Soweto needs an urgent response to begin stabilising the power supply. We propose:

• A co-ordinated programme between SAPS, JMPD and neighbourhood watch groups to increase eyes-on-the-street and deter vandals and illegal connections
• Improved security at all transformers, substations, and minisubs with CCTVs and alarms
• A new mobile police station in another strategic location of the area to boost policing
• Replacing all broken streetlights to deter criminals
• Re-evaluating supply and supplement the demand where necessary

Residents of Noordgesig have also reported constant billing errors due to confusing erf numbers, while residents of Orlando West have told me about the complete lack of consultation between them, Eskom, and their ward councillor, which only makes their frustration around outages worse.

The reality remains that some residents are simply not able to pay for supply. These residents need to be referred to and registered on the Expanded Social Package (ESP), a package of rebates that are extended towards those below a certain income bracket within the city. For those who do not qualify for ESP, we need to create an environment that encourages residents to pay for these services by educating on the importance of revenue collection and what it does to help improve communities and the lives of residents. But this requires cleaning out corruption so that confidence with residents can be built.

Access to quality services is a core goal of a DA-led government under my leadership, and we will make it a priority to come up with a decisive plan to resolve the Soweto power crisis. This needs to start with proper security measures for the power grid and improved safety for residents. We will also ensure that all billing errors are resolved in seven days, and that residents receive the proper information that they deserve.

Issued by The DA