Electricity theft, dubbed
izinyoka, has spread across the Eastern Cape province with two metros reporting losses of hundreds of millions of rands every year.
Buffalo City Metro (BCM) loses an average of R88-million a year while Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMBM) reports losses of R100-million.
BCM ward 10 councilor Irene Brauns, of the DA, blamed this on the lack of proper housing.
“If people had proper houses this would curb the current problem of innocent people losing their lives,” Brauns said.
“Illegal connections are there because people live in shacks.”
In three years 28 BCM residents, many of them children, have died because of izinyoka.
Two of the victims are 9-year-old Thembelihle Rubushe of Duncan Village and a 10-year-old Sihle Mva of Amalinda. Both were electrocuted when they stepped on exposed illegal wire connections.
Izinyoka includes meter tampering and non-registered meters, said BCM spokesman Thandy Matebese.
He said BCM had recorded “non-technical” losses of R88-million.
NMBM Mthubanzi Mniki said they had launched preventative programmes. The metro is running awareness campaigns in communities.
“We also electrify shacks and use alternative non-grid electrification like solar energy. We cut down all illegal connections,” he said.
“We are losing over R100-million a year on this.”
BCM mayor Alfred Mtsi has appealed to BCM communities to put a stop to illegal connections.
“These persistent acts of illegal connections incur unnecessary costs to the municipality and expose people to fatal dangers,” said Mtsi.
Mtsi said disadvantaged BCM communities had benefited from the electrification of an additional 1000 informal dwellings in Mdantsane and Duncan Village.
BCM East Bank resident, Neville Varrie complained their area did not have street lights.
They asked BCM to act “but all these officials are telling us is that the reason for this is that we are stealing electricity and that’s a lie. We don’t do that here. We suffer now because of other people’s izinyoka,” said Varrie.
Fynbos resident Malibongwe Daki said people were stealing electricity to be able to cook and stave off darkness in their homes.
“We want what the mayor and them are doing at their homes because they have lights and they cook using electricity. We steal to live like them,” he said.
Ward 29 councillor, Makaya Bopi said people were willing to buy electricity.
“People have been saying that they are willing to buy but they need proper places they can call home before they can comply. We can blame them, but the truth is that they don’t have a choice and we’ve been asking them to wait for their turn,” said Bopi.
“Some residents are paying for electricity with money, while others are paying for it with other people’s lives,” said DA BCM caucus leaders Terence Fritz and Dillon Webb.
The DA is asking for izinyoka to be made an exigency (emergency) item at tomorrow’s municipal infrastructure planning and services meeting.
“The 12 % electricity tariff increase for honest residents, who are paying, cannot be justified when looking at the huge amount of money lost due to electricity theft every year,” they said. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
Eastern Cape metros lose over R180m to izinyoka
Buffalo City Metro (BCM) loses an average of R88-million a year while Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMBM) reports losses of R100-million.
BCM ward 10 councilor Irene Brauns, of the DA, blamed this on the lack of proper housing.
“If people had proper houses this would curb the current problem of innocent people losing their lives,” Brauns said.
“Illegal connections are there because people live in shacks.”
In three years 28 BCM residents, many of them children, have died because of izinyoka.
Two of the victims are 9-year-old Thembelihle Rubushe of Duncan Village and a 10-year-old Sihle Mva of Amalinda. Both were electrocuted when they stepped on exposed illegal wire connections.
Izinyoka includes meter tampering and non-registered meters, said BCM spokesman Thandy Matebese.
He said BCM had recorded “non-technical” losses of R88-million.
NMBM Mthubanzi Mniki said they had launched preventative programmes. The metro is running awareness campaigns in communities.
“We also electrify shacks and use alternative non-grid electrification like solar energy. We cut down all illegal connections,” he said.
“We are losing over R100-million a year on this.”
BCM mayor Alfred Mtsi has appealed to BCM communities to put a stop to illegal connections.
“These persistent acts of illegal connections incur unnecessary costs to the municipality and expose people to fatal dangers,” said Mtsi.
Mtsi said disadvantaged BCM communities had benefited from the electrification of an additional 1000 informal dwellings in Mdantsane and Duncan Village.
BCM East Bank resident, Neville Varrie complained their area did not have street lights.
They asked BCM to act “but all these officials are telling us is that the reason for this is that we are stealing electricity and that’s a lie. We don’t do that here. We suffer now because of other people’s izinyoka,” said Varrie.
Fynbos resident Malibongwe Daki said people were stealing electricity to be able to cook and stave off darkness in their homes.
“We want what the mayor and them are doing at their homes because they have lights and they cook using electricity. We steal to live like them,” he said.
Ward 29 councillor, Makaya Bopi said people were willing to buy electricity.
“People have been saying that they are willing to buy but they need proper places they can call home before they can comply. We can blame them, but the truth is that they don’t have a choice and we’ve been asking them to wait for their turn,” said Bopi.
“Some residents are paying for electricity with money, while others are paying for it with other people’s lives,” said DA BCM caucus leaders Terence Fritz and Dillon Webb.
The DA is asking for izinyoka to be made an exigency (emergency) item at tomorrow’s municipal infrastructure planning and services meeting.
“The 12 % electricity tariff increase for honest residents, who are paying, cannot be justified when looking at the huge amount of money lost due to electricity theft every year,” they said. — bonganif@dispatch.co.za
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