Durban - Blackouts caused by electricity theft have pitted residents of Lotus Park in south Durban against their neighbours in a burgeoning illegal shack settlement.
Parts of Lotus Park have been without power for up to 24 hours at a stretch in the past few weeks because of the continuing theft, inflaming tensions.
On Wednesday, ward councillor Sunil Kalicharan addressed several concerned residents after a stand-off between them and about 50 people from the informal settlement on Tuesday.
A war of words had erupted after residents stopped a group of men who had tried to connect cables to a roadside municipal power box.
Residents, who feared for their safety, told the Daily News that power theft had begun after people started putting up shacks in November on an illegally occupied piece of land between Silvergull Drive and the Lotus Park Muslim cemetery.
There were now more than 180 shacks on the site, according to an eThekwini official who visited the site on Wednesday.
And residents fear the number could increase, with some claiming that trees from a nearby forest were being cut down every night as the settlement spreads.
A resident of Thrush Place said a group of men had knocked on his door and asked him if they could dig a trench from a power supply box outside his driveway through his yard to the informal settlement. They intended to bury an electricity cable. He refused. The men said they would return.
Five other power boxes along the pavement are at risk, said residents. One of the boxes, opposite the settlement and near a block of flats, has been tampered with.
Electrical cables have been connected illegally and run underground to the settlement.
Kalicharan said the electricity department had been made aware of the problem. “There is no solution in sight. It is unfair to residents who are paying their bills,” he said.
Apart from blackout misery caused by power theft, residents were also concerned about theft and neglect at the cemetery. Taps, tombstones and fencing had been stolen and goats graze and children play in the cemetery.
“The issue of housing is a major problem. An influx of people from rural areas into the suburbs to benefit politicians. At a national level there is a rural development plan that could help.”
Kalicharan said there was a hidden agenda behind the growth of the informal settlement, claiming that certain politicians were trying to garner votes by telling people to settle there.
However, this could not be confirmed.
“We don’t know where they have come from; there is no database. In the past few weeks the area has been without power for up to 24 hours. A burnt power box was also found along the road.
“They destroyed this once vibrant and beautiful community for votes. They don’t have the interest of the community at heart, because they don’t live here,” he said.
He said several informal meetings had taken place involving residents, himself and the municipality’s South Durban Basin area-based management, but these had “proved fruitless”.
Jacob Pienaar, ANC proportional representative councillor for the area, said he had engaged with people from the informal settlement and taken their details to compile a database.
“The department of housing has been notified. We have warned people not to build any more shacks. We have been destroying those built recently,” he said.
Pienaar said residents from the informal settlement had approached him for a water standpipe and electricity. He said the municipality was corresponding with the owner of the land before anything could be done.
“I was also taken aback when I heard of this settlement. We now have four settlements in this ward,” he said.
Daily News