WHAT looked like a simple transformer explosion left the community of Snakepark, Block 10 Soweto, without power for three years.
Thandekile Matshoba (50) told the Daily Sun that when the power went off, they thought the electricity would come back in a few hours, little did they know they were going to spend full 3 years without electricity.
She said that they started by experiencing low power, and their transformer then exploded.
“We waited for Eskom people to come, but they never came. We stayed for days. Food in our fridges started getting spoiled. We were forced to throw away the food. We thought that everything would be fixed within the blink of an eye. That wasn’t the case,” she said.
Matshoba said life was very difficult then.
“We were not familiar with living a life without electricity. We purchased rechargeable lights to assist in lighting up the houses,” she said.
She added that she is taking care of her ill grandmother, who almost burnt in the house since she used to sleep with candles on.
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“She almost burnt in the house. One night I woke up to check up on her in her room. I found the headboard burning, I removed it. I was then forced to buy rechargeable lights.
“Paraffin is too expensive especially in winter. I had to buy two heaters, one for gogo and one for us. It has been difficult. it was so cold, winter was unbearable,” she explained.
Gogo Elinah Nkabinde (84) told the SunTeam that living without electricity was unbearable. She said they had to iron clothes from neighbours who had electricity.
“We had to ask neighbours to refrigerate our food and charge our phones. We had enough of these troubles,” she added.
She added that she is excited that she will finally live a normal life.
“Gas is expensive. I had to refill it twice every month for R250. I couldn’t boil water or iron my clothes,” Elinah said.
Residents said they are happy that Eskom finally switched on the lights after three years of endless struggles.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi oversaw the switch-on of transformers in SnakePark Soweto on Thursday, 28 March.
He did it as a part of the Province’s Energy Response Plan to bring power to communities.
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