Orlando East residents have raised concerns over an electricity cable that has been left lying along a pavement, with bare wires exposed at its end, following repairs by Eskom.
A thick black cable had been connected to a transformer on one side of Tshabalala Street, then covered with a heap of sand resembling a speed bump as the cable crossed the street.
The cable emerges on the opposite pavement, and is openly exposed in front of a house and along an uncovered trench, leading to a small Eskom box where multi-coloured wires have been connected and left exposed.
A yellow plastic sign labelled “Electrical cable below” rests against a fence.
Residents said they had reported the matter to Eskom, to no avail.
“Eskom people came here last Monday to restore power after we were left in the dark for about five days recently. According to Eskom this was a temporary thing, but now we keep our children indoors for fear of their safety,” said resident Ntombizodwa Stuurman.
“This shows that Eskom don’t care about our safety, otherwise they would have buried this cable. This needs to be fixed urgently before someone gets electrocuted or breaks a leg in this uncovered trench.”
Less than 100m from the cable, water gushed from a burst water pipe after contractors installing new street lights allegedly broke it while digging to put in cables.
“We’re fortunate that the water is not flowing in the cable’s direction, otherwise it could have caused the electricity to trip or electrocute anyone around. This cable has been lying around like this for a week now and Eskom must do something about it,” said another resident, Sibongile Makhaya.
DA councillor Toni Molefe has accused Eskom of being inconsiderate when it came to people’s safety.
“This is unacceptable, and Eskom should have known better,” he said.
Eskom’s spokeswoman in Soweto, Lesego Motshwane, said they had sent people to the site to investigate yesterday afternoon.
“Our technical team are investigating the matter. We will respond as soon as a technician has been on site,” Motshwane said.