Removal of Illegal Connections Sparks Protests in Khayelitsha

Residents of Social Distance informal settlement blocked Mew Way Road in Khayelitsha on Wednesday and Thursday morning. The protests started after Eskom staff began removing illegal wiring and poles around the settlement on Tuesday afternoon.

Protesters from a newly formed informal settlement called Social Distance blocked the busy Mew Way road in Khayelitsha with burning tyres on Wednesday and Thursday morning. They are demanding formal electricity.

The protests were sparked when Eskom staff began removing illegal wiring and poles around the settlement on Tuesday afternoon.

Community leader Hlubi Mayekiso said the shack dwellers want Eskom to return their electrical wires or install formal electricity in their shacks. Most of the shack dwellers had moved onto the land during the Covid lockdown in 2020.

Mayekiso said some shack dwellers had connected to Eskom’s transformer, while others connected to nearby formal houses for a fee of about R300 per month.

“They could see that some wires were connected to the houses, but they removed them all … Eskom has no right to remove our wires from the houses because we have agreements with their owners,” she said.

Shack dweller Asanda Msebenzi said they are now forced to ask people in the formal houses to charge their phones. “House owners make us pay R10 for charging our phones whether it’s fully charged or not.”

Zanele Bukani, Eskom spokesperson, confirmed that teams had removed illegal connections from the settlement to ease the strain and “significant energy losses” on the network in the area.

Some protesters accused the police of assaulting them, kicking down the doors of their shacks and shooting at them with rubber bullets during Wednesday’s action. Protestors who spoke to GroundUp had visible bruises that appeared to be from rubber bullets.

When GroundUp asked police about this, provincial police spokesperson Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi said: “Lingelethu West Police responded on Wednesday. Upon arrival on Mew Way, they found a group of disgruntled community members staging a protest. The community members used burning tyres to block the road. Police reinforcements were dispatched to the area. The community dispersed peacefully. It was not necessary in any way to use action.”

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