AFTER struggling for two years without electricity, residents decided to buy their own transformer.
But in October last year, the transformer bought by the people of Winterveld, Tshwane, was taken away, allegedly by Eskom officials.
The residents said Eskom told them they had received a tip-off that the transformer was stolen.
Domenic Tolo (39) said she was disappointed as she had been looking forward to finally having electricity.
“We were shocked when the police and Eskom officials came and took our transformer even before we could have it installed,” she said.
Domenic said an investigation found the transformer was not stolen, but Eskom never returned it. She said it had been rusting at the Loate Police Station for months and the cops wouldn’t say why they were keeping it.
“We’re still living in the dark, even after we donated money from our pockets to find a solution. About 70 households contributed. We bought it for R57 000 in Rosslyn,” she said.
Thabo Malatsi (34) said it was absurd that residents had to spend their money on something the government should provide.
“We pay taxes so we can have electricity and water but since the government doesn’t want to help us, we decided to do it ourselves,” he said.
Eskom said the transformer was illegally connected to its network and removed in October. Its Gauteng spokeswoman, Reneiloe Semenya, said a case of tampering with essential infrastructure was opened with the Loate cops and the transformer was handed over as evidence.
“Illegal operations such as tampering with electricity infrastructure, illegal connections and meter bypasses compromise the integrity of the network, causing repeated failure and explosions due to overloading. Unauthorised operations on Eskom electricity infrastructure is not only unsafe, but can be fatal. Such illegal electricity activities may cause fire to properties and also harm to members of the public,” she said.
Transform.Co store manager Rudy Strandom confirmed that indeed the residents brought the transformer from their shop.
