‘It’s chaos’ — Eskom prepaid meter scramble leads to death in Soweto

Tens of thousands of prepaid electricity users are scrambling to meet the 24 November deadline for Eskom’s Token Identification (TID) Rollover project, with one death reported in Orlando, Soweto.

Three days before the deadline, hundreds of people queued at Eskom offices in Soweto seeking help to upgrade their prepaid meters, stay on the grid and avoid heavy costs. About two million of the 6.9 million Eskom prepaid meters across South Africa have not yet been upgraded.

Shock and fear

Soweto resident Mlungisi Gumede (33), who queued with hundreds of people at the Orlando East Community Hall on Thursday, expressed shock after witnessing a man die in the queue.

“I was standing a few metres away and suddenly saw a man fall from a chair,” said Gumede. “We initially thought he had just fainted.”

Gumede joined the queue at 4am and said the man who died arrived at a similar time. There were hundreds of people in front of them.

“He was in the 400s in the queue. You can imagine then if someone who was here so early was in the 400s…. It means many people slept here,” said Gumede.

SowetanLIVE reported that the dead man was 59-year-old Joseph Fikile Busakwe, who was in the queue to get his prepaid meter upgraded.

Read more: Two million Eskom prepaid meter users face power cut-off as recoding deadline looms

Gumede, like others, expressed frustration with Eskom’s communication strategies. Residents complained that they only learned about the energy utility’s rollover project last week, despite Eskom and municipalities’ attempts to publicise the issue.

“The whole exercise is chaos. Eskom failed to educate us and the deadline is very thin,” said Gumede.

Nomalanga Mnyandu, a resident of Orlando, said it became clear a few days ago that interest in upgrading electricity meters had grown drastically.

“What a sad, sad thing. The poor man did not say goodbye when he left home this morning because he was certain he would return,” said Mnyandu.

Soweto residents queue to recode prepaid meters at Orlando Communal Hall on 21 November. (Photo: Fani Mahuntsi / Gallo Images)

Wayne Duvenage, the chief executive officer of the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, said the chaos linked to Eskom’s rollover was a reflection of the state's inability to attend to matters timeously.

“It’s like you wait for the last minute and then everybody rushes around. But that is a challenge that falls squarely in the lap of government,” he said.

“They’ve got to understand the behaviours of the public and how to manage their way around it. It’s a serious problem.”

Sluggish queues and anxiety

Eskom has remained unrelenting in the face of calls to move the 24 November deadline to accommodate those who missed the announcement.

The power utility has announced that those who have not recoded their meters by Sunday will not be able to load new electricity tokens and will be required to pay R12,000 for the installation of new meters.

“It’s ludicrous for them to expect the public to pick up a cost of this nature. They can’t afford it,” said Duvenage. “Especially the market that is on prepaid, which is generally … the poorer communities.”

“The queues are endless, the process is sluggish and the scene is chaotic,” said Nomthadazo Xulu, from Orlando in Soweto. “People are anxious and are afraid that they might wake up to no power on Monday.”

‘Not extendable’

During his visit to Diepkloof on Thursday, Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said the deadline couldn’t be moved.

“It’s not extendable — it’s a technical issue. We can’t extend it. It’s a hard stop. On November 24 if you have not recoded, you are sitting with a different problem. Beyond November 24 we have to physically remove the meter and that comes at a cost,” SowetanLIVE quoted the minister as saying.

He suggested that some of those queuing at Eskom’s offices were trying to deal with other electricity issues. He said those without pre-paid meters must return to the offices next week, assuring them that the 24 November ultimatum would not affect this group. DM