Darkness in Soweto — waiting for water and power to be restored makes a tough life so much harder

Kids play in the street during a blackout in Orlando, Soweto. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)

By Tshabalira Lebakeng

30 Sep 2022

Thursday, 22 September was another day of no water and electricity in Diepkloof and Orlando in Soweto. I went out to interview a few people about how they felt about the long hours of load shedding and not having water.

‘I’m not a slave in this country!” said one person whose mood summed up the anger felt by Soweto communities.

“I woke up with no water, and when I turned on my lights to prepare my kids for school, there’s no electricity. I thought, am I dreaming or what is happening?

“When I open my fridge, it’s hot like a stove. It shows the electricity has been off for hours. When I look at the condition of the food in the fridge, it’s rotten,’’ said Mapule Maakganoto, a 33-year-old resident.

soweto darkness mapule 33-year-old Mapule Maakganoto from Diepkloof, Soweto and her son sit outside her house during rolling blackouts. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)

She tried cleaning out her fridge, but because there was no water, she couldn’t properly get rid of some of the rotting chicken livers, heads and feet.

She says she normally spends R400 a month on electricity. “It’s heartbreaking because now I have to spend R150 a day,” which is taking her whole income of R1,050 a week.

“I clean people’s houses. I make sure my kids get some food, but now I have to throw my food away, because of not having electricity. But not having water, it’s humiliating. I can’t bath my kids. At other places they have water, but we don’t. Me and my family are wounded by this electricity thing,’’ said Maakganoto.

‘My family is suffering’

Maile Maakganoto is Mapule’s younger brother. The 25-year-old from Zone One in Diepkloof works at the fast food shop. The owner of the business told him to stay at home.“No electricity, no work,” he was told.

I found him busy collecting wood scraps, old cardboard and egg cartons.

“I’m collecting this because I want to cook. We only have small amounts of water to make tea. The problem now, uncle, is that when the fire is on, we must make sure we cook, we bath, we do everything before we run out of wood.’’

When I looked at that family’s yard, I saw poverty. Everyone is trying to contribute something. The little kids running around hope that when the sun sets, they will get something to eat. But what something? Is there any hope in the bowl with rotting chicken feet, chicken livers and chicken heads?

They were hoping that the water would be restored so that they could at least clean some of the meat and cook it.

“Nothing is coming out of the tap, malume,” said a little girl returning from the tap with an empty mug.

It’s now 4pm and there’s still no water or power. I can see the flies. In the yard, the meat needs to be thrown away. The smell is not good at all.

No neighbours can help with water — everyone says they have none.

I was saying an unending prayer for the water to come back on. This family should not throw away the last meal they have.

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Someone shouted, “amanzi abuyile” — the water is back!

Maile takes a bowl of chicken meat to the tap and washes it.

“Malume, re tloja nama,” (uncle, we will eat meat) says a little boy, excited to see Maile cleaning the meat.

Maile collects the wood around him and makes a fire. Next, he places two pots of pap and chicken on the fire. It’s getting dark and there’s still no electricity. People in the street are giving up. They go back to their places to sleep. There is no hope that this power situation will be fixed soon.

I find Maile sitting with his three nieces next to the fire, waiting for the food to be done.

soweto darkness Zone One without electricity, Diepkloof, Soweto. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)

“Uncle, I don’t like my nieces sitting like this. I know we are poor, but we don’t deserve to be treated like this. Look at these innocent faces. Uncle, you see that fridge in the house — we fixed it more than twice. But today it’s dead and the food is rotten. The meat I’m cooking, we just got it from Diepkloof Mall,” said Maile.

When I went outside Maile’s yard to see what was happening, the whole of Zone One was dark. I met an old-timer, Mr Ntabazwe, coming from the tuck shop. He was holding a tin of Lucky Star fish. He was talking to himself, complaining that that small tin cost him R30.

He said he missed the old days, with light day in and day out.

‘This is daylight robbery’

“When there is no power, there will be high crime. The food price is high, electricity is high. My boy, we are not stupid, we can see what is happening. Look at Diepkloof and Orlando — it’s like an informal settlement. Now we are buying electricity… we stopped stealing it. But we still don’t have it… this is daylight robbery,’’ said Ntabazwe.

soweto darkness orlando Kids play in the street during a blackout in Orlando, Soweto. (Photo: Tshabalira Lebakeng)

The sun is beginning to set. Kids are playing in the street and people are coming home from work. They have to cook when they get home. I look at the tuck shop that is open, but there is no light inside. The owner is standing by the door. You have to tell him what you want and he goes inside to fetch whatever you are buying.

It is high time for the people of South Africa to say, no, we are no longer going to pay tax because we don’t know where this tax is going.

People here eat in the dirt, while the people on the high levels are enjoying a soft life and don’t feel the pressure of poverty.

People on the ground voted for these people to be in those high positions. We have the power to take them down. We have to vote them out or we will have more years of eating in the dirt. DM/MC

Tshabalira Lebakeng is a regular writer for Maverick Citizen who is part of the Homeless Writers Project. He is also one of the authors of Vaya: Untold Stories of Johannesburg.

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‘My family is suffering’