Municipal technicians trying to remove illegal electricity cables in some Durban |suburbs are being chased away by angry shack dwellers, leaving areas without power for days and sometimes weeks on end.
Community groups and ratepayers associations say they are fed up with the situation.
Vincent Chetty of the Clare Estate Action Committee said nothing was being done to resolve it.
“These intimidation tactics should be taken on by the municipality without any fear. Residents in Clare Estate are suffering and the municipality needs to sort out these service delivery issues.”
Chetty added that technicians and contractors needed to start coming into the area with tougher security or even a police guard.
“When there is an outage we try to work fast by reporting it, but all we get are reference numbers. People are fearful for their safety and we try our best to perform patrols at night.”
DA councillor Ismail Cassimjee said residents in Bayview, Chatsworth had gone without electricity for a week.
“We held a meeting with residents and took up their plight with the municipality.
“Although workers are being threatened, residents cannot suffer. The municipality needs to step up their security and ensure safety of the technicians or contractors.”
He said those responsible for the threats needed to know they could not bully the municipality into doing things their way.
Bayview resident Heather Muthusamy, 54, a manager at a food outlet, said she had not had electricity for almost two weeks.
“Food to the value of R1 500 has been spoilt. I have to now cook on an open fire or on a gas stove. This is very expensive,” she said.
While she is unsure what is causing the power outage, she is hoping the electricity will be restored soon.
“It’s difficult to live like this. I need to go to work in the morning and so do my children. We have to wake up early to boil water just so we can bathe.”
Another resident, Kasevan Chetty, said technicians who tried to fix the problem had been stopped and intimidated.
“The first four days of the power outage were hectic. I have two children aged 2 and 7, one goes to crèche and the other to school. Just to get ready, we had to wake up extra early to boil water, bath them and get them ready. My wife and I struggled.”
Chetty, 35, an operations controller, said on the fifth day they had opted to move in with relatives who had electricity.
“What else could we do? Our food was spoiling and with two children it was not easy. I hope the municipality can come up with a solution to protect residents and the technicians.”
A Reservoir Hills resident who declined to be named said she had seen first-hand how electricity had been illegally connected at a shack settlement.
“They are very smart and smooth. They work in groups of five and communicate using hand signals and cellphones. While some are making the connections others are keeping lookout. These men are also very aggressive.”
The 50-year-old grandmother said her neighbourhood used to experience power cuts almost every day, but this was now infrequent.
“Although it’s reduced, we cannot live like this. We never know when the electricity is going to go off.”
A Clare Estate mother of two, who also declined to be named, said for the past six years she had not had electricity at night.
“From 6pm until the early hours of the morning we are left without electricity,” she said.
“We have stopped buying food in bulk and just purchase items for the day.
“It’s such a frustrating issue and when residents try to confront the men they are threatened.”
She said the municipality needed to hire tougher security to help protect the technicians, and SAPS or metro police needed to escort them.
The eThekwini Municipality has confirmed that certain parts of the city are experiencing delays in the provision of services, including water and electricity, due to threats and intimidation of municipal staff and contractors by a group of unknown people.
Spokeswoman Tozi Mthethwa said contractors and municipal officials who had been attacked or prevented from doing their work had reported these incidents to the police.
Affected services include:
lDelays in attending to reports of electricity faults and power outages.
lDelays in water delivery as water tankers are being stoned.
lPlumbers attending to leaks and pipe bursts being threatened and prevented from working.
Mthethwa said that from Tuesday security guards were accompanying contractors and municipal officials.
“A group has been threatening municipal staff as they try to carry out their duties. Some private sub-contractors have also been affected as they have been ordered to stop work,” she said.
Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, confirmed cases of intimidation had been opened.