Residents of Meadowlands, in Soweto, South Africa, took to the streets for the third consecutive day on Thursday to protest power outages in the area, which are making life unbearable for them.
The angry residents blocked the streets with rocks and set car tires ablaze to express their displeasure over the poor power supply to the community.
According to reports, the area is already facing “load reduction” on a daily basis with scheduled power cuts, but for the past three weeks, there have been power outages sometimes lasting days at a time, according to the protesters.
In some parts of Meadowlands, electricity was out for four days last week, said resident Tshidiso Makamu. In other parts, there was no electricity for two days.
“There is no communication. We just find ourselves with no electricity without knowing what the issue is,” said Makamu. Community leaders say they were told the power outages were due to stolen cables.
Eskom Gauteng Spokesperson Amanda Qithi had not responded to questions at the time of publication. However, Eskom posted on X on Thursday afternoon that their technicians were unable to work in the area due to the protest.
“We urgently appeal to the community to allow our employees safe access to continue their work. Restoring electricity is in everyone’s best interest, but we will not compromise the safety of our staff,” the post read.
Protesters told newsmen that on Thursday morning, Eskom said power would be restored by 4 pm, but only if they stopped protesting. The protesters removed the debris blocking the streets to make way for Eskom’s teams.
Source:https://energynewsafrica.com
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