The devastating impact of City Power’s load reduction has led to communities blaming the national government for it.

The majority of community members where these load reductions are being implemented have questioned why the load reduction was implemented barely days after they had cast their votes.

Selina Motsamai, from Alexandra Township, said she was not surprised that the government would now want to cut them off from the grid, now that they have cast their votes.

Motsamai said it was strange now that “politicians don’t recognise their informal settlement but the same people were canvassing for votes in the same ‘informal settlements’”.

“All these politicians are the same, we have a councillor here who promised us all sorts of things; now that we are being cut off of the electricity, he’s nowhere.”

“Why are they not recognising our area now? Is it because they got what they wanted? We are allocated taps here, we have water, and yet they tell us today that our area is not recognised by Human Settlements,” said a visibly furious resident.

Meanwhile, United Democratic Movement Councillor Yongama Zigebe said residents of the City of Johannesburg were facing severe challenges due to this load reduction, which was critically affecting the economic hub of the country.

Zigebe said this was happening despite the Minister of Electricity’s recent celebration of 120 days without load shedding, while residents and businesses in Johannesburg continued to suffer under what can be termed “load shedding version 2.0”.

“Load reduction has been particularly devastating for small businesses, especially those operating in predominantly black communities such as townships.

“Areas like Alexandra, Soweto, Ivory Park, Fourways, Cosmo City, Diepsloot, Randburg and many other areas of Joburg are bearing the brunt of these power interruptions.

“The economic impact is profound as these areas house numerous small businesses that rely heavily on consistent electricity supply.

“Without it, they face operational disruptions, loss of income, and potential closure, further exacerbating unemployment and economic instability in these vulnerable communities.

“It is alarming that City Power has resorted to load reduction despite Eskom’s ability to supply electricity without load shedding. This paradox raises serious questions about the efficiency and management of our power infrastructure,” he said.

Zigebe said residents of Johannesburg could not partake in the national celebration of no load shedding due to the ongoing load reduction.

However, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the municipality was implementing load reduction measures due to electrical capacity issues.

Mangena said residents from informal settlements have been tapping into the municipality’s network unlawfully, stealing electricity and destroying infrastructure – contributing to overloading that trips power in formalised housing.

“Since the start of the year, City Power has had to replace eight transformers in the area that were damaged by illegal connections.

“At the moment, three additional transformers need to be replaced in Rabie Ridge that were also affected by overloading.

“Last month, the Johannesburg Municipal Electricity Utility introduced load reduction in response to the increasing risk of grid collapse. At that stage, the load on the network had reached alarming levels, forcing the utility to take drastic measures to avoid the city being plunged into a blackout.

“Part of the load reduction measures that City Power committed to undertake was the removal of illegal connections that are contributing a significant amount of load in the system,” he explained.

Saturday Star

sipho.jack@inl.co.za