RESIDENTS of Burundi and Covid-19 informal settlements in Cape Town are at war over electricity.
This comes after Burundi residents burnt izinyoka cables connected to their electricity boxes by people from nearby Covid-19 in Mfuleni, Cape Town.
Burundi residents said the illegal connections were causing their power to trip. and wires were connected to their boxes without permission.
Burundi community leader Phumeza Mpatheni (53) said: “These people connect to our boxes at night without permission, causing our electricity to trip.
“We have had this problem since they took the land and created Covid-19 Informal Settlement. We have been suffering and weWe are calling on these residents to find their way to get electricity and to stop causing problems for us.”
She said they recently spent the whole weekend without electricity after Covid-19 residents damaged a box while trying to connect to it.
On Sunday, 24 April, residents said they were gatvol and decided to remove and burn all wires illegally connected.
Linda Nqothole (40) said: “We cannot suffer because of them. When we got here, They must go to the government and ask for their own electricity. we also used paraffin and gas to cook.
“They must do the same until they get electricity, and not rely on us.”
Covid-19 squatter camp leader Xola Mlondleni (36) said what the Burundi people did was not good.
“Cutting and burning our cables was bad because we paid a lot of money to buy them. All we want is light in our houses and not to fight,” he said.
Eskom said they were always called in by people from areas near Covid-19 as there were complaints about illegal electricity connections.
Currently residents from Driftsands are also facing same problems of illegal connections allegedly by residents from Covid-19 informal settlement.
“Eskom technicians have repeatedly been called out to the area to remove the illegal connections and restore the electricity supply,” Eskom said.
