After 20 years of relying on paraffin stoves and candles for cooking and light, the future looks bright for residents in Zolani and Phaphamani informal settlements as electricity poles are being erected in their area.
After 20 years of relying on paraffin stoves and candles for cooking and light, the future looks bright for residents in Zolani and Phaphamani informal settlements as electricity poles are being erected in their area.
Senior Manager of Technical Services in the Makana Municipality, Mayenzeke Siteto, said 406 houses in the area were to be electrified in the R2.5 million project. “The project started three weeks ago, and is expected to be completed within three months,” Siteto said.
When Grocott's Mail visited the area, employees from Racec Electrification (Pty Ltd), the company awarded the tender to complete the job, were planting poles. Community liaison officer, Phakamile Dingana, said the project was progressing well. “We are still in the first phase and there will be more people from the community employed in the second phase,” said Dingana.
Zolani resident, Mangaliso July, who has lived in the area for more than 10 years, said he was delighted that the area was getting electricity. “We will be able to see criminals at night,” he said. He said it would also solve the problem of shack fires in the area. “We rely on paraffin stoves and candles, which makes us vulnerable to shack fires. It has also been hard for the residents to purchase perishable items, because the are no refrigerators, and paraffin is expensive,” July said.
Another Zolani resident, Lungisile Gongqa, said the move was the result of protests by the residents. “If we had not protested, we wouldn't be talking about electricity here today,” said Gongqa. He said residents and the municipality needed to get together and discuss development plans for the area. “We still need RDP houses, toilets and water. But the mayor told us we will not get RDP houses, because this place is not suitable for the construction of houses,” Gongqa said.
Nokuzola Jobe was sceptical, however, claiming it was just a ploy to get votes in the upcoming local government elections. “We've been living in this situation for more than 20 years and nothing has been done. "Now that the elections are around the corner, they [municipality]start with this. They will come back again with another development in 2015,” said the furious Jobe.
