“Our government has failed us”: Nomzamo is among the few townships in Soweto that have had no electricity for the past eight months. Some residents have adapted to living without electricity
In the yard of a white-painted house, on what residents of the area call 4-ways Street, 18-year-old Grade 11 pupil Nwabisa Madliwa sits outside on a camping chair in an attempt to do her homework.They hope that their sister will make a success of her schooling career, even though the community has had no electricity since July last year.
Siyamthanda shares the house with her mother, Thobeka Mkhontwana , her three children and her three siblings.However, Siyamthanda’s two biggest worries are her sister Nwabisa’s education and her son, who “inhales the smoke from the fire I use to cook”. Siyamthanda says she does not understand how her family’s electricity was disconnected when “we used a prepaid meter”.
In the face of debt amounting to R4 billion, Eskom took to disconnecting electricity in the different areas, and announced that Soweto had an outstanding bill of R18 billion. She opens the fridge in the kitchen. Her family now uses it “as a wardrobe, because it has become useless as a fridge”.As she takes a moment to catch her breath, Siyamthanda stands at the end of her street and points to the next neighbourhood.
“A candle costs me R3.50, and when my gas runs out I must buy paraffin, which costs R13 a litre. That may not seem like a lot of money to some people, but it is to me.”A group of five young men sit outside a tuckshop, which, unlike most houses on the street, has power.
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