FOLLOWING the shutdown in Soweto on Monday, members of Pimville/Klipspruit Community Forum are expected to march to the office of Joburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse on Tuesday, 21 June.
The group will be delivering their memorandum of grievances relating to informal settlements and electricity issues.
The residents gathered at Peter Roos Park on Empire Road in Parktown. They will then march to Metro Centre, Braamfontein using Empire Road and Joubert Street.
Joburg Metro Police Department spokesman Xolani Fihla said traffic officers will be deployed to monitor the march, and divert and control traffic when needed.
“Officers will also be on high alert for any criminal elements that want to destabilise the day-to-day running of the city. While the Constitution recognises the right to protest, such a right is not absolute and has to be exercised within limitations as set by the law.
“The limitations are intended to ensure that in the exercise of the right to protest, the rights of others should not be infringed. Lawlessness will not be tolerated and those found breaking the law will be dealt with decisively.”
With regards to the power issues in Soweto, Eskom said it is recording an exponentially high number of failed mini-substations and transformers due to the network overloading as a result of illegal connections, meter bypasses and tampering, unauthorised operations on the electricity network, vandalism and theft of electrical equipment as well as purchasing electricity tokens from ghost vendors and non-payment of electricity.
This is not limited to Soweto, but all Eskom areas of supply in Gauteng.
