Twenty-six people around the Buffalo City Metro (BCM) have been electrocuted after coming into contact with illegally connected power cables.
Many of those who died were from Duncan Village, followed closely by Mdantsane and Mzamohle informal settlement in Gonubie.
In Duncan Village, 10 people lost their lives through being electrocuted and in Mdantsane seven.
In Mzamomhle township, four fatalities were reported to Gonubie police in the past year.
This is contained in a council report tabled by the metro’s acting infrastructure services head Nceba Ncunyana during last week’s council meeting.
According to Ncunyana’s report, seven people were killed in the metro in 2012, 14 last year and five so far in 2014. Ncunyana revealed that the two youngest victims were five-year-old children who were killed in Cambridge last year and in Nompumelelo township in Beacon Bay earlier this year.
Another victim was six years old when he lost his life in August last year in Cambridge. The oldest was 48. Other fatalities last year were three in Cambridge location , one in Buffalo Flats and one in Nompumelelo.
Ncunyana said the metro’s electricity department’s revenue protection unit, which is responsible for removal of illegal connections, was 51% understaffed and demoralised and they were “losing the battle” against the illegal practice.
He said the unit was experiencing difficulties in fighting the challenge and that unit members had been attacked in various areas “a number of times”.
Ncunyana said one senior employee was attacked in Duncan Village while removing illegal connections.
He was hit by a brick in the head and needed “multiple stitches”.
“The metro’s electricity department is responsible for providing a stable electricity supply to all consumers, but illegal connections are making this impossible as the electricity department has no control over the illegal acts perpetrated by some,” Ncunyana said.
He added that there was “a continuous challenge” when it came to trying to maintain service delivery to paying customers.
Nomlindo Makeleni, who lost his 29-year-old brother Mawonga when he came into contact with a live wire in Duncan Village last year, yesterday said the metro needed to move with speed in installing electricity in informal settlements, where most of these untimely deaths occur.
“Families, especially those in informal settlements, are losing loved ones because the municipality is moving at a snail’s pace in installing electricity connection boxes,” Makeleni said. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
Illegal electricity connections kill 26 in BCM
Many of those who died were from Duncan Village, followed closely by Mdantsane and Mzamohle informal settlement in Gonubie.
In Duncan Village, 10 people lost their lives through being electrocuted and in Mdantsane seven.
In Mzamomhle township, four fatalities were reported to Gonubie police in the past year.
This is contained in a council report tabled by the metro’s acting infrastructure services head Nceba Ncunyana during last week’s council meeting.
According to Ncunyana’s report, seven people were killed in the metro in 2012, 14 last year and five so far in 2014. Ncunyana revealed that the two youngest victims were five-year-old children who were killed in Cambridge last year and in Nompumelelo township in Beacon Bay earlier this year.
Another victim was six years old when he lost his life in August last year in Cambridge. The oldest was 48. Other fatalities last year were three in Cambridge location , one in Buffalo Flats and one in Nompumelelo.
Ncunyana said the metro’s electricity department’s revenue protection unit, which is responsible for removal of illegal connections, was 51% understaffed and demoralised and they were “losing the battle” against the illegal practice.
He said the unit was experiencing difficulties in fighting the challenge and that unit members had been attacked in various areas “a number of times”.
Ncunyana said one senior employee was attacked in Duncan Village while removing illegal connections.
He was hit by a brick in the head and needed “multiple stitches”.
“The metro’s electricity department is responsible for providing a stable electricity supply to all consumers, but illegal connections are making this impossible as the electricity department has no control over the illegal acts perpetrated by some,” Ncunyana said.
He added that there was “a continuous challenge” when it came to trying to maintain service delivery to paying customers.
Nomlindo Makeleni, who lost his 29-year-old brother Mawonga when he came into contact with a live wire in Duncan Village last year, yesterday said the metro needed to move with speed in installing electricity in informal settlements, where most of these untimely deaths occur.
“Families, especially those in informal settlements, are losing loved ones because the municipality is moving at a snail’s pace in installing electricity connection boxes,” Makeleni said. — asandan@dispatch.co.za
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