Soweto residents are not foolish enough to believe they are the only ones affected by the national electricity crisis. They understand as well as anyone else the nature and magnitude of the challenges facing Eskom and the country, but they remain unhappy.

Why? Does Soweto want preferential treatment from Eskom when it comes to paying for electricity? Are they even willing to pay?

The conflict between Soweto residents and Eskom appears at face value to be a coincidence that arose as a result of Eskom’s failure to properly engage communities on every community project launched. Eskom did not fully engage communities while proceeding to install prepaid electricity meters in Soweto, say residents, at a time when the entire country is faced with massive electricity challenges.

Now, notwithstanding the installation of prepaid meters, Soweto residents believe Eskom is using the prepaid system to alleviate its own financial burdens and they feel it’s unfair, when some of them were struggling to pay for electricity even on the old system.

Residents say the cost of electricity is exorbitant and they cannot afford the escalation because they cannot find jobs. They say, is that alongside the rising cost of electricity, the cost of living is rising too, and while families are living in adequate housing, they have nothing to eat.

“We are starving to death; we no longer cook inside our houses on stoves, but make fires outside where we cook,” says 58-year-old Margaret Hlongwane, who lives in Chiawelo, Extension Two. “Just this morning, my daughter and myself drank tea made from water from the geyser, which wasn’t even boiled. There is no money, no food.”

“Many residents take tenants in to ease cash flow problems but this comes with its own set of problems. When electricity supply is not stable, full rent cannot be charged, which results in a loss of income.

“Furthermore, the electricity reader box placed by Eskom is prone to vandalism, which every time results in a R760 damages charge to the home owner.

“When I ask my kids for money to buy maize meal they always ask, ‘Would you rather stay in the dark, Mom?’ The cost of living is so high that I have to prioritise to get by. My grandson here should be in school, but this time we had to sacrifice his fees; that is why he’s here with me,” says Hlongwane.

Hlongwane was employed as a domestic for the past 15 years, and spent very little time in Soweto because she lived with her employers. Hlongwane says she prefers the old paying system used during the days of Apartheid, where the “black jacks would pounce on all those who wouldn’t pay”.

She says if Eskom charged a flat rate, that would better her life, since she would be able to budget properly, which is currently impossible because the amount differs according to usage.

Hlongwane says she simply cannot afford the current charges:

“I am more than willing to pay for my electricity. Eskom has employees, whom they must also pay, and a whole lot of other financial challenges – and that is why we deeply sympathise with them and pray that they finally find solutions to all the current problems,” she says.

“We need to engage and work together during such difficult times and not expect the government to do everything for us. We understand the predicament Eskom has landed itself in and we feel their pain, but we simply cannot cope, it’s tough. The starvation makes me miss work where my employers would at least leave behind some bread and I would eat.”

Hlongwane says South Africans shouldn’t always have their hands out to government in expectation for something free. “Yes they promised us free housing, electricity, et cetera, but we cannot stop living simply because the government is not fulfilling all its promises. Really, we cannot stop simply because our government is failing.”

Elderly people have been at the forefront of the bid to stop the installation of prepaid meters in their homes. Another Soweto resident, 61-year-old Elizabeth Chimzima, echoed Hlongwane’s sentiments on the matter. Chimzima is a pensioner who takes care of all 10 of her unemployed children plus five grandchildren.

Chimzima says both she and her husband are pensioners and the family is starving and no one is working.

“Sometimes I just feel as if I could just hang myself [from] the stress. I am not sure if this is the way we will live till we die, or things will improve, but either way, I don’t love life right now.”

For Chimzima, attempted theft and vandalism has been a significant threat. “Some guys tried to cut the green Eskom box at the corner of my yard but it was just too hard for a saw; besides, of what use would that be?

“I appeal to the government to please intervene, because really we are suffering. Every cent you have must be shared with Eskom, and as for me, there is nothing to share, because even the R300 electricity that I buy at the beginning of the month lasts two weeks. The other two weeks of the month we stay in the dark and cook whatever there is to cook outside where we made a heath.”

Hlongwane again: “We are not looking for preferential treatment by Eskom in Soweto and are willing to pay for our electricity. We are an outspoken lot; I reckon all South Africans are.”

In 2011, in a protest against the installation of prepaid meters in Soweto homes, Soweto Chiawelo residents torched the home of ANC councillor Joe Nemaungani.

In 2013 Soweto Pimville residents took to the streets in protest against electricity prepaid meters.

For the past two months, Soweto Protea North residents have been up in arms against Eskom over prepaid electricity meters. Protea North residents took to the streets in protest against their electricity being cut off because of non-payment. They accused Eskom of poor service owing to its failure to notify them that their electricity would be cut off. Residents persist with their spurning of the prepaid meter system with the informal label, ‘the green box’.

Eskom says the pre-paid meter system is for residents’ own benefit and that, like everyone else, they must pay for their electricity. Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe says the prepaid meter system was the best viable available option.

“The objective of the strategy is to give residential customers control over their electricity usage by installing prepaid split-metering technology with protective enclosures. The value proposition for the customer is as follows:

• Control over consumption;
• Fewer outages;
• Fewer safety incidents;
• Improved quality of supply;
• No estimations;
• No billing issues;
• Efficient use of electricity.”

Phasiwe added: “A business case was developed at the start of the project and the proposed solution was the preferred option. A pilot was implemented in 2007 and the results of the pilot helped Eskom implement the solution countrywide.”

As the solution’s implementation continues countrywide, it is difficult to see how the both sides will ever find a proper solution. In a struggling economy, every change will be seen with deep suspicion. And when it looks to the ordinary people that the very same change is being used to charge them more for the same product, results could be deeply worrying. DM

Photo: A young girl cries outside her family shack after a violent service delivery riot near Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, 11 September 2013. EPA/KIM LUDBROOK