Long wait in the dark for lone elderly woman

For more than 15 years a Mthatha grandmother has been using her meagre grant on paraffin to cook meals and provide light  despite applying for her home in Qokolweni village to be electrified.

But Kholeka Mshiywa, 64, has had enough.

She has lost count of the number of times she has visited her local Eskom office.

She said Eskom workers have marked out where electricity poles would be established, but that was where it ended.

“Nothing has happened. I have been using paraffin all these years. I have asthma because of this paraffin,” she said.

“Sometimes I have to cook food the old traditional way, on the hearth with dried cow dung, when the paraffin runs out. I live in fear in this house. I lock all the doors before the sun sets, but that does not guarantee my safety. I have invested in burglar bars. I feel my life would be better if I had electricity,” Mshiywa said.

Her home had been broken into three times.

“People stole my food, blankets and livestock. Every day when the sun sets I worry that the worst could happen. Elderly people are at risk of rape and murder and my biggest fear is that it will happen to me because of this darkness. I feel like I did something wrong to Eskom that I don't know about and I'm being punished for it,” she said.

She buys two 25l bottles of paraffin a month, costing her R450.

“I still have to take myself to a doctor because of my condition. If I had electricity I wouldn't have to worry about this.”

In 2017 Mshiywa sourced a private company to connect her house to the national power grid. She parted with R3,000.

“Hardly a month passed when Eskom cut my connection. I asked why they would do that when they failed to provide me with electricity, even after I paid the R160 I was told to pay back in 2008. They said my connection was illegal. In February this year they promised to help me, but I am still waiting.”

Provincial Eskom spokesperson Zama Mpondwana said the power utility was aware of Mshiywa's application for electricity.

“Her application falls within the 20 Amps category, which must follow an electrification process. Alternative solutions to this are being investigated and the family will be contacted very soon and advised on the way forward,” Mpondwana said.