Tweefontein K – Residents at Tweefontein K are finally getting some relief from Eskom’s induced load reduction, following months of community push backs and a protest.
Eskom announced its decision to stop the load reduction mid-last week, 02 July.
In addition to stopping the load reduction, the community demanded that Eskom separate Tweefontein K from the connection line where other neighbouring villages are connected and for Eskom to investigate how many people are illegally buying electricity.
These demands come after Eskom erroneously said its decision to implement the load reduction was due to the fact that many people are connected illegally.
However, Eskom has found out that 97% of the 650 households are compliant and do not purchase electricity from illegal vendors. The remaining 22 households are yet to provide their details for verification.
To push back from the demands, Eskom told the community that separating the electricity line would be too expensive and the community would be required to foot the bill. To this, the community refused and Eskom eventually agreed to fund a study to check the viability of separating the community from the rest of the villages.
This victory comes after weeks of community frustration that led to a protest where one community member, Thabang Kabini, was seriously injured on 18 June after the police shot a rubber bullet at close range.
The community donated R50 per household for Kabini and he was subsequently transferred to Steve Biko Hospital, where continues to receive ongoing treatment.
The community now wants the police officer who fired a rubber bullet at close range to be held accountable. Kwaggafontein Police Station Station commander, Colonel Shongwe, said Kabini was injured during crowd control by Public Order Policing unit. He advised that a case should be opened to allow for proper investigation.
“We cannot tell exactly if the officer is from Kwa-Mhlanga or Kwaggafontein, most of the police are not aware about Thabang’s incident. He must open a case so that we can get [to] the bottom of this matter,” he said.
