Ga-Rankuwa View residents have been protesting for months over the lack of electricity in phases 4 and 5. According to residents, this has been happening since September last year. A strike was held again as the community showed frustration and desperation.
This has raised community concerns regarding the ward councillor’s responsibility for assisting with service delivery.
Ga-Rankuwa View community leader Fanty Moeti blames load shedding for the ongoing electricity crisis.
“We have been experiencing problems with electricity since load shedding was implemented. We have only been able to use electricity for four hours every day due to outages, and this has been happening for a long time.
“We have a pattern of power outages and power never gets restored,” said Moeti. A lack of necessities is a sign of a much bigger problem.
Residents believe that the government overlooks their needs and grievances. In addition, community leaders reported having more than four meetings with Eskom management in the past year.
“Every time we engage with Eskom, they keep on promising that our issue will be resolved,” added Moeti.
Furthermore, Moeti said the community engaged in strike action recently, and the police were called on them. Eskom Management was unwilling to talk with the community until Captain Mnisi from the Ga-Rankuwa Police Station intervened.
An agreement was signed on the same day regarding the resolution of the issue on January 26th, 2024. The electricity challenges persisted, and as a result, there was a strike yesterday.
The community activist, Obakeng Mokwena, said the load-shedding schedule is unknown to them, which frustrates them.
“As a community, we’re angry because our electronics are broken and nobody can fix them, the groceries are bad. My appliances have been destroyed by the power outage.
In response to our request for assistance, the councillor said she did not work for Eskom.” Mokwena said.
In a statement during the strike, Levy Ngobeni, a representative of Eskom Management, indicated that the problem had been resolved, although it was going to take a long time.
Despite many attempts to reach Violet Phalwane, ward councillor in Ward 30, she was not able to return to the Tshwane Bulletin to answer questions regarding the strike.
