Soweto residents have been called to join councillors who have promised to march to the Eskom offices in Diepkloof on Wednesday.
This call was made by councillor Sechaba Khumalo, during the #SowetoShutdown protest on Tuesday.
This came as residents of Nomzamo Park in Orlando East, Soweto, took it upon themselves to meet with Khumalo who they said was “doing nothing” for them.
Addressing the crowd, Khumalo blamed Eskom for the current situation facing Soweto residents, and encouraged them [residents] to join in on the planned councillors’ march to Eskom offices in Diepkloof on Wednesday.
“We are mobilising our people. Tomorrow they must come all out and we must demonstrate that we have now had enough of Eskom,” he said.
The planned #SowetoShutdown saw protesters march to Khumalo’s office. The protests are to challenge the R18 billion Eskom says the residents owe for electricity.
The angry residents, who said they had not had electricity for more than eight months, were stopped by law enforcement on their way to the municipal offices.
Community leader Sakhumzi Ngomfela told City Press: “Since he will not come to us as the residents, we are going to him because he never addresses us. But now we are being stopped.”
Ngomfela, who lives in the area with his wife and three children, addressed the angry residents. He said that Eskom, government and the councillor must be held responsible for Soweto’s electricity woes.
Read: Soweto residents: Hell no we won't pay for electricity
“We have not had electricity since July last year. Last year there was a fault with transformers. We called Eskom and we were told that residents had not been paying for electricity therefore it would be cut off anyway,” he said.
Ngomfela said his attempts to engage the councillor on the electricity crisis yielded no results. His emails were ignored.
“Our councillor never updates the community. He is our councillor but is clearly not interested in the well-being of the people of this area.”
The community leader added that, left with no other options, the residents decided to go to the councillor.
“So today, we thought it better for us to do this our way. Today, the residents want him to tell us what progress has been made regarding this electricity issue,” he said.
“We were told to wait for five minutes but all we got after that was a message that we should be told that ANC councillors will be going to Eskom tomorrow.”
When he finally arrived, Khumalo was accompanied by law enforcement. He was met by loud boos as the crowd shouted: “You don’t respect us.”
Khumalo, with his fist in the air, proudly shouted “Amandla!”, which was not well received by the residents who shouted back: “Asinawo amandla, sifuna ugesi (We don’t have power we just want electricity.)”
Khumalo went on to express how councillors – including himself – were victimised because of the electricity issue. “We have put systems in place where we can hold them [Eskom] accountable for the issues in Soweto. Because they don’t reside in Soweto, this preassure is felt by ordinary councillors on the ground,” he said.
“Most of our councillors in Soweto are under siege. I myself have also been a victim where my house was damaged and my car was scratched.
“We are dealing with the leadership of Eskom who don’t have the interest of our people at heart.”
Meanwhile, there was a heavy police presence with both the SA Police Services and Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) officers. Police vans and iNyalas patrolled the streets.
Injured protesters, including Ntandokazi Magula (31), told City Press that “protesters were shot at for no reason”.
Magula, who was shot on her lower back and her leg, said: “We were peaceful. The police did not say a word to us. They just started shooting at us.”
JMPD spokesperson Wayne Minnaar told City Press said he could not confirm the number of injured protesters or how they had sustained injuries
“I can confirm that rubber bullets were used to disperse protesters.We will continue to monitor the area tomorrow,” he said.
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