Every day when the clock strikes 4pm, Nomshado Tshabalala unplugs her refrigerator, stove and other electrical appliances.
It’s a routine that Tshabalala, from Mofolo South, has become accustomed to over the years as the intermittent power outages continued unabated in her area. She ensures that she always has candles for lighting, and paraffin for the stove she uses for cooking and warming water.
“If you are a nobody like me, Eskom won’t pay if your fridge or TV is damaged by the power cuts. So I just switch them off,” she said, adding that she can no longer enjoy watching television during prime time.
And it’s not only Mofolo residents who’ve been hit hard by power outages since the beginning of winter. Areas such as Diepkloof, Orlando East, Pimville, Dobsonville and Bramfischerville have not been left unscathed.
In many of the cases reported, the outages have nothing to do with the scourge of cable theft.
Yesterday, residents of Diepkloof Zone 2 marched to the local Eskom offices in protest against the blackouts.
The residents, mostly women, complained that they had been without electricity for the past three weeks.
The problem, they said, started when Eskom converted their mini-substation.
“(Since then) it keeps tripping. If it’s restored, it’s only for a short time, at midnight. What can you do with electricity at that time?” asked Duduzile Malinga, one of the organisers of the march.
Repeated complaints to Eskom, she said, had borne no results.
“When we complain, they keep telling us that it (mini-substation) is overheating. If that is the case, how come there was no power cut the whole day during MaSisulu’s funeral (on Saturday)?” Malinga asked.
So serious are the power outages that residents fear it’s only a matter of time before they start fighting among themselves over minimising electricity usage.
“People have started arguing about this one having many people in his yard or having too many zozos (shacks). For some, like me, it’s painful because I walk long distances looking for firewood,” said Dora Modiba, 59.
Japie Ndlovu, who runs a tuckshop in Diepkloof Zone 2, lamented the constant financial losses he incurs and the damage that the power outages is causing to his electrical appliances.
“When I call Eskom, they say electricity is overloaded because there are too many shacks in some yards. I can’t control that. It’s up to the (local) councillor and Eskom to do that. When the (electricity) supply dies, my business dies too,” he said.
In Diepkloof Zone 1, Sipho Nkabinde also bemoaned how his restaurant had also suffered because of power outages.
“What really kills our businesses is that they (Eskom) don’t notify us before. They just cut off, which damages our appliances and stock. They are terrible,” he said.
Across Chris Hani Road in Fox Lake View in Dlamini, neighbours George Mokoena and Tlale Metsing stood in the street talking about the weekend power outages after a mini-substation exploded on Friday. It was restored only late on Sunday.
Although their area is not among the worst affected, they feared that the weekend outage could herald rolling power outages this winter.
“This could be a temporary relief. What happened is only the beginning,” said Metsing.
Eskom sales and customer services regional manager Bandile Jack told The Star yesterday that “many power outages around Gauteng are caused by overloading”.
“Overloading is the result of illegal connections and non-payment,” Jack said, adding that the power frequently went out at about the same time on cold winter nights.
“The network overloads because too many people are trying to use a network which is designed for one household per stand.
“Also, customers who are not paying for their electricity tend to be wasteful in the way they use it,” he said, explaining that backyard rooms added to the overloading.
Jack added that cable theft added to the outage burden.