Alex residents slam City Power

THE residents of Alexandra whose electricity supply was cut off by the City of Joburg power utility, City Power, which has in recent months been conducting illegally connected power cuts across the City, have indicated that they are not taking the cutting off of their power supply lying down.

- SIYABONGA SITHOLE

This comes as City Power has once again pounced on non-paying and illegally connected residents and businesses in Alexandra Township.

This, according to City Power, is part of its efforts in trying to stabilise its grid and decrease financial losses incurred as a result of illegal connections.

During this operation, affected residents complained that they were not being treated with dignity as they too have rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Phindi Mbedu said they will find ways to get reconnected as soon as they can, adding that the housing department must resolve their problems as they are told they are not in the system, which is why they are not allowed to be connected to the City Power grid.

"They come here for our votes and now switch off our electricity supply. What do they expect us to do? We will have to find ways of getting electricity back to our homes. We have no choice but to find other ways we can reconnect to the system.

"We cannot live without electricity. How else will we be able to survive. We have popped out money and we are trying to reconnect. We are not taking this lying down and we speaking to City Power trying to weigh our options. We spoke to housing, and they say we are not in the system. This is the issue that housing must resolve for us to be in the system. We will meet as the community to find a way forward," she said.