Eskom denies leaving Soweto residents deliberately in the dark

Residents of Soweto supplied with electricity directly from Eskom were left in darkness for up to ten hours on Friday.

Eskom however has rubbished claims that it deliberately cut off power in Soweto as retaliation after township residents took to the streets protesting against prepaid meters.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe said that national stage one load shedding implemented on Friday‚ coupled with an overload on the power grid‚ had caused the prolonged power outage.

“The transformer that supplies electricity to residential areas is supposed to trip when it’s overloaded to protect itself. It is not designed for extra capacity‚” said Phasiwe.

Phasiwe said the reasons behind the pressure on the grid were mainly illegal connections and the overuse of electricity by legally connected households that accommodate backyard dwellings.

“There are a number of houses that have three to four back rooms or outbuildings all connected to the main house. With the cold weather on Friday more electricity was being used and this caused the pressure on the grid‚” said Phasiwe.

The City of Johannesburg‚ however‚ condemned the power outage that left millions of residents without electricity.

“What exacerbated this was the deafening silence and indifference on the part of Eskom which showed complete and utter disregard to the people of Soweto‚” said member of the mayoral committee for infrastructure and development Matshidiso Mfikoe.

Mfikoe said residents were given mixed information regarding the blackout from Eskom’s call centre.

City officials are set to meet with Eskom in the coming week to discuss the power outage and other issues pertaining to electricity in Soweto.

-RDM News Wire.