Still no electricity for Diepsloot welfare organisations despite year-long wait

Eskom says illegal electricity connections in nearby informal settlement are the cause of the breakdown of the transformer. (Photo: Silver Sibiya)

By Silver Sibiya

15 Jul 2024

Eskom says broken transformer was damaged by illegal connections and can’t be fixed again because area is high risk.

Several welfare organisations in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, have had no electricity from Eskom for more than a year. The power utility says a transformer has been broken by illegal connections and can’t be fixed because the area is too dangerous for its technicians.

The transformer supplying the offices of the South African Depression And Anxiety Group (Sadag), and Lawyers Against Abuse in Diepsloot township broke down in May 2023.

The organisations, which operate from containers in a fenced enclosure, say this has put great pressure on already stretched resources and made their work even harder.

Eskom says the transformer broke down repeatedly because of illegal connections from a nearby informal settlement in Extension 2. It was moved on to the property of the Gauteng Department of Social Development, which operates an office on the block, but was damaged again.

Sadag development manager Fatima Seedat said the lack of electricity was very disruptive.

Overburdened and under-serviced

“We are situated in an already overburdened and under-serviced community. The impact of no electricity does put a strain on everyone,” she said.

She added that they had to adapt to using noisy generators and gas heaters when it was cold. Neighbouring Family Africa had been supplying food for Sadag clients, but the lack of electricity had made this difficult.

Eskom says illegal electricity connections in nearby informal settlement are the cause of the breakdown of the area's transformer. (Photo: Silver Sibiya)

Lindsay Henson, the executive director of Lawyers Against Abuse, said the full-time use of generators had pushed up their costs. Lawyers against Abuse provides legal services, therapy and counselling for women and children who have experienced rape, abuse, and other forms of violence.

“We operate a walk-in centre in Diepsloot where we provide all our services to the community free of charge. Not having electricity for the past year has had a significant impact on our work,” she said.

“Generators are not meant to run continuously 50 hours a week. As a result, there have been many times when our generators have broken down and we’ve had to send them for repairs. During these times, we’ve not been able to operate at all. We have now purchased three generators that we alternate each day to stay operational,” Henson said.

Exorbitant financial costs

“In addition to the exorbitant financial costs of running a generator 50-plus hours per week, it has required significant staff time each day to maintain these generators, refuel on a daily basis, and move generators inside and outside our centre. This is time that would be better spent actually doing the work of the organisation – assisting those who have experienced abuse. Having these generators also creates an unnecessary safety risk for staff and for our centre from those who may want to steal the generators.”

The transformer was also supplying electricity to the offices of the Gauteng Social Development Department. Spokesperson Motsamai Motlhaolwa declined to comment and referred GroundUp to Eskom.

Eskom Gauteng spokesperson Amanda Qithi blamed people in nearby homes for the breakdown of the transformer.

“In most areas within Diepsloot, communities have illegally installed their own transformers on the Eskom network, in the process damaging the electricity infrastructure and making it unsafe for Eskom technicians to operate on. The communities’ illegal operations on the Eskom network make it inoperable and unsafe,” she said.

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“We urge the community of Diepsloot to partner with Eskom in reducing or preventing prolonged outages in the area by refraining from conducting illegal electricity-related activities as they not only negatively affect Eskom, but also inconvenience law-abiding, paying customers and community service points such as this social development office.”

Qithi said it was not possible to put in a dedicated transformer for the welfare offices.

“Eskom’s network configuration does not allow for dedicated supply lines to paying customers, making it impractical to service them separately, which is the reason the offices are still without electricity supply.”

Asked when the transformer would be fixed, she said: “This transformer has been fixed a number of times. We have also moved it inside the customer premises to protect it from unauthorised operations and illegal connections from the community. However, these illegal acts continue to happen. This area is currently classified as a red/high-risk zone. Therefore, our operators do not work in this area as it is risky for them.” DM

First published by GroundUp.

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South Africa

Overburdened and under-serviced

Exorbitant financial costs