Pretoria - Residents of Lebanon in Pretoria at the weekend intensified their protest action after their Slovoville counterparts caused another power outage by connecting their electricity illegally.
They said it seemed as though tension between the two communities was unlikely to end any time soon.
Residents from Slovoville continued to connect to their power lines in a desperate resort after Eskom refused to restore their supply due to a high numbers of non-payment in the community.
Subsequently, Slovoville homeowners found themselves in the same position as residents of some sections of Ivory Park and Tembisa, whose electricity infrastructure will not be fixed until at least 60% of their communities sign acknowledgement of debt to Eskom, and pay at least a R500 penalty for each meter per property.
Eskom has taken this unapologetic stance in many communities where it discovered high rates of meter-bypassing and the use of alternative and illegal electricity tokens from unauthorised dealers, which negatively affects the power utility’s revenue collection.
Lebanon residents took to the streets on Thursday and said this was to get the attention of Eskom. They claimed they were paying customers, and Eskom needed to fix their electricity problems urgently.
Recently, Eskom told community leaders that the demonstrations would need to stop before their technicians could feel safe to come to the area.
On Saturday, residents came out in large groups and blocked the roads that give passage to Odi Correctional Services, the Itireleng Drivers Licence Testing Centre and Mabopane Square, forcing motorists to find alternative routes.
They burnt tyres on the roads and turned vehicles back from the morning until about 9pm.
It was up until the rain was pouring intensively that the protesters dispersed.
The police arrived and fired rubber bullets in the air after 8pm to disperse a crowd that blocked the M21 and M44 intersection, which gives motorists access to other townships like Winterveldt, New Eersterust, Soshanguve and Hammanskraal and Ga-Rankuwa.
Members of the Tshwane Metro Police Department were deployed on the road to urge and guide motorists to alternative routes to avoid stoning of their vehicles.
Community leader Mpho Mashaba said: “As you can see, we are protesting peacefully and we have not damaged any public infrastructure, and the traffic lights around us are still standing.
“We want to show that this is not a violent protest but a peaceful one to get Eskom to come and assist us.
“We still have the same issue of the people of Slovoville coming and connecting themselves to our grid. Eskom technicians are just afraid to come here.
“We are just tired because after Eskom fixes our connection, those people will come back again.
“They start by connecting for just one section of their community, and then they add more sections and then the infrastructure fails to handle the load.”
Meanwhile, some young people saw an opportunity to make money by blocking the smaller streets going into Lebanon and charging motorists a minimum of R5 to pass.
Eskom said it would communicate plans to deal with the situation.
Pretoria News