Power wars erupt on Dunoon street as furious neighbours battle blackouts
Peter Luhanga
The winter cold has contributed to a bitter feud between homeowners and informal settlement residents over illegal electricity connections in Dunoon.
Residents living in RDP houses, some of which have been unlawfully converted into blocks of flats and rented to tenants, say their power often cuts out for weeks because illegal connections supplying the informal settlement overload the system. When electricity is finally restored, the variable voltage damages household appliances, including televisions, fridges, and amplifiers.
Illegal connections in the area has already claimed lives. In 2021, Bongeka Mhlakaza, a mother of five, was electrocuted while trying to reconnect a loose wire outside her shack. In 2022, an 11-year-old learner from Sophakama Primary School died after stepping on a live wire in Ekupholweni informal settlement.
Many families and tenants in formal housing have now turned to gas or charcoal for cooking, while parents struggle to warm water for their children to bathe before school on winter mornings.
Matters came to head in Xhalanga Street on Sunday 22 June when a man trying to make an illegal electricity connection was confronted by angry residents from the formal housing area. The confrontation escalated until a second man intervened and removed him from the scene.
A community meeting was later held in an effort to ease tensions and find common ground.
Vusi Ganjana turned his RDP house in Xhalanga Street into eight single-room apartments. His property backs onto the Ekupholweni informal settlement, and he is the street committee leader in the section.
Ganjana says trouble over electricity began when the informal settlement was set up in 2018. He says residents from Ekupholweni have been stealing electricity from Eskom lines supplying formal houses, causing blackouts.
He said the winter chill has only made things worse, with tempers flaring.
“There has always been conflict over electricity ever since the informal settlement was established,” said Ganjana.
He said Eskom had attempted to intervene and the problem eased until the start of winter, with Sunday marking a breaking point.
Tensions boiled over during the community meeting held at about 10.30, with fierce words exchanged between formal residents and those living in the informal settlement.
“We’re planning to set up a meeting with Eskom and City of Cape Town officials on Tuesday to sort out this mess,” said Ganjana.
Thobile Stuurmann, who also lives on Xhalanga Street, said the ongoing power outages caused by electricity theft have damaged several of his appliances, including his amplifier, television, and fridge. He now uses gas to cook.
“We use gas to cook, paraffin heater to keep warm and we go to Dunoon section 31 to charge our phones,” said Stuurmann.
Coenraad Jacobs, who lives higher up on Xhalanga Street, said every time someone from the informal settlement climbs an Eskom pole to connect power for a neighbour or a client, the whole area loses electricity.
“When they illegally connect, they have power, we don’t have power. That is the main thing. We buy power and they get power for free. It’s not fair man,” said Jacobs.
Community activist and Ekupholweni informal settlement community leader Thembelani Ndabezimbi, said they have repeatedly asked the City for formal electricity connections, but were referred to Eskom.
But Ndabezimbi said Eskom said they need to speak to the City, as they are the landowner and only they can authorise electrification. Ndabezimbi was at the Sunday meeting where residents from the RDP houses wanted to know why the informal settlement residents didn’t ask the City or Eskom to provide legal electrical connections.
“We’ve tried, no luck,” he said.
He said claims that informal settlement go free access to electricity through illegal connections were misleading. He said residents had to purchase their own cables to connect to Eskom lines. It cost about R900 for a 100-metre cable.
“You pay that and pay someone with experience to tap into the Eskom line. They charge between R800 and R900.” He said some residents paid a monthly rental for a cable.
He said residents in the informal settlement also had their electrical appliances damaged due to power surges.
“If we get formal electricity it is reliable and cheaper because you pay for the electricity units you are using,” he said.
Eskom’s Western Cape spokesperson, Kyle Cookson, was not able to obtain a response from the relevant officials regarding electricity supply to the informal settlement.