Khayelitsha residents have given Eskom seven working days to respond to demands over prolonged power outages, broken infrastructure and a lack of reliable electricity in several informal settlements.
According to Cape Argus, residents marched to Eskom offices on Tuesday, 13 October, saying some households had allegedly been without power for months.
The protest was organised under the Cry of the Xcluded banner and supported by several social movements, including Amadoda Aqotho, Isidima Samadoda and the Movement for Change and Social Justice.
Residents raise safety concerns
Community members said the outages were affecting education, household food supplies, small businesses and public safety.
Sabelo Zekevu, chairperson of Amadoda Aqotho, told Cape Argus that residents were being forced to walk through dark streets, increasing their exposure to crime and gender-based violence.
Children were also struggling to study and prepare for exams while businesses were losing income when they could not operate normally.
Families also risked losing refrigerated food during long outages.
Residents warned that the use of candles, paraffin and other alternative energy sources increased the risk of shack fires. Poorly lit streets were also making community night patrols more dangerous.
Zekevu added that vulnerable residents could be left unable to charge their phones and call for help during emergencies.
Eskom responds to residents
Cape Argus reported that Faniswa Sonjica from Eskom’s Khayelitsha customer services apologised to residents and said the utility was working to address their concerns.
Eskom sector manager Mohale Makeke said progress had been made on outstanding complaints and promised to follow up on cases linked to reference numbers.
However, he said some issues fell under Eskom’s Electrification Planning department.
Seven working days to respond
Residents want reliable electricity, urgent repairs to faulty transformers and mini-substations, improved infrastructure security and repairs to broken streetlights.
They also called for exposed wires to be removed, billing and token problems to be fixed and communication around outages and restoration times to improve.
Protesters further demanded a clear plan to electrify informal settlements and regular progress updates.
They have given Eskom seven working days to respond to the memorandum and provide what they described as concrete answers after months of frustration.
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