Residents of Delmore Gardens and Delmore Park again took to the streets this morning (November 21) in protest of constant power outages.
Delmore Park resident Belwyna Fransman said the electricity went off around 9.30pm last night and again in the morning.
“We tried to find out what caused the power outages,” said Fransman.
“We are still not sure if the power outages were caused by cable theft or if the cables have been damaged. The community is angry about the electricity situation as no one is being allowed to enter or exit the area.
“Yesterday (November 20) at around 6pm we saw EMPD officials guarding the cables so we are not sure if the cables were stolen or damaged after the EMPD left,” Fransman said.
This follows another protest which took place on November 13 where residents of the Jerusalem and Delmore informal settlements woke up to find that their illegal electricity connections were removed.
Reacting against the disconnections, a group of people, believed to be from both informal settlements, barricaded the road and went on a rampage, wrecking municipal infrastructure and several trucks passing through the area.
The group allegedly sabotaged the power lines which supply electricity legally to nearby townships Delmore Park and Delmore Gardens, which resulted in an almost week-long power outage.
Memorandum
Residents from these townships then held a peaceful protest on November 15 outside the Germiston Council Chambers to voice their grievances.
They handed over a memorandum to the mayor’s office, demanding the metro restores electricity to these townships immediately.
They also demanded that the electrical feeder supply is moved from where it is located to a secured place to prevent it from being vandalised or tampered with. Residents gave the mayor seven days to respond to their grievances.
Furthermore, on November 18, residents of Delmore Park and Delmore Gardens also took to the street, barricading the road with burning tyres, stones and tree branches, preventing motorists from passing through the townships.
According to Fransman, after they handed the memorandum over on November 15 the power was restored three days after on November 18.
“On November 19 a representative from the mayor’s office came to assure us that the mayor has received the memorandum and will respond. He also told us that we need to protect the cables from theft or vandalism,” said Fransman.
The Advertiser is still waiting for comment from the metro.
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Disconnection of illegal electricity connections cause havoc
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