Riverpark residents from Alexandra in Joburg marched on Tuesday, 14 July 2026, demanding that their area have access to electricity. (Photo: Mabatho Marakalla) While City Power has reported more than 1,200 power outages so far in July 2026, residents have been protesting, to demand both a resolution to the widespread outages and access to electricity in Joburg areas that have been waiting years to be connected.
In Malvern on Monday, residents blocked Jules Street with burning tyres, protesting against constant outages. Resident Michele Spadino said she was surprised it took so long for the protests to begin.
“Some streets have been without power for up to 20 days.”
/file/attachments/orphans/IMG-20260714-WA0022_914915.jpg "Riverpark residents picket outside City Power in Alexandra, demanding to be addressed by the manager. (Photo: Mabatho Marakalla)")
In Ward 57, Moffat View, South Hills, Regents Park, Councillor Faeeza Chame exposed a glaring example of this operational paralysis on Elton Street and Outspan Road.
Residents here were left in the dark for days, only for City Power technicians to finally arrive and install a replacement cable that was physically too small to carry the area’s electrical load. The blunder forced teams to shut the system down again, abandon the site and begin to source a new cable from scratch.
In a message to residents, Chame laid bare the municipality’s planning failures and double standards: “I am extremely concerned about the ongoing collapse in service delivery at City Power and the devastating impact it is having on our communities.
“For far too long, residents have been subjected to prolonged electricity outages while waiting days, and sometimes even longer, for repairs to begin. The information coming from various sources paints a deeply troubling picture: more than 1,000 calls reportedly waiting to be attended to, a shortage of contractors due to non-payment, a severe lack of technicians available to service entire regions, and ongoing shortages of critical spare parts.”
Addressing the Elton Street cable disaster directly, Chame demanded answers for the basic lack of pre-work assessments:
“This raises serious concerns. How was this not identified before the work commenced? Why was the capacity not properly assessed from the beginning? Why did residents have to sit in darkness for days before this issue was discovered? These are not merely technical failures. They are failures of planning, management, oversight and accountability.”
Chame highlighted the hypocrisy of a municipality that demanded instant payment but offered sluggish, broken services in return:
“Residents are expected to pay their electricity accounts every month without fail. City Power does not accept excuses when payments are due, yet residents are constantly expected to accept excuses when basic services are not delivered. This double standard is unacceptable.”
City Power did not respond to queries on the issues.
Power failures have continued across the city throughout the week, with large parts of Bez Valley, Jeppe, Bruma and Cyrildene out, as well as South Hills.
/file/attachments/orphans/IMG-20260714-WA0016_784847.jpeg "Riverpark residents picket outside City Power in Alexandra. (Photo: Mabatho Marakalla)")
Chame reported that despite being personally assured by City Power officials that a team would be dispatched to replace a faulty circuit breaker, the commitment was broken, Chame told frustrated residents, noting that her subsequent calls to the utility had gone unanswered while households were left in limbo without power.
“Residents deserve honest feedback, timely updates and a clear plan of action to restore power.”
Alexandra – a month without power
In Alexandra on Tuesday, residents of Riverpark and the Mahuanza Flats marched to the City Power offices in Bramley, demanding that the area have access to electricity after its appeals to the City over several years had been ignored.
“We stay with children and grannies in the house. At night it becomes extremely cold and our children can’t do their schoolwork. Every day we have to look for sticks and branches to start a fire and cook. When it rains, we end up sleeping on empty stomachs,” said resident Mapule Mogobane.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said the Mahuanza Flats were illegally occupied and residents had illegal connections, negatively affecting the broader Alexandra area. He said City Power would remove the illegal connections, while then working with stakeholders to supply bulk electricity and bill the Department of Human Settlements.
Alexandra is one of the Joburg areas most affected by power outages, and Mangena acknowledged a City Power policy aimed at pressuring residents to pay for their power. The utility would restore electricity in areas only where 80% of households were paying for their power, meaning areas with a significant number of illegal connections, or residents who weren’t paying their bills, would suffer longer outages.
Patricia Shabangu, who has been staying on 15th Avenue her entire life, said they had been without electricity for close to a month.
She said the City barely communicated whenever there were power outages and the response was often delayed.
“We have been living without electricity for a month now. It’s only now, where our Councillor Mr [Adolph] Marema decided to attend to our grievances during a recent community meeting.”
She said the councillor informed them of the steps City Power had taken to help the community by meeting them halfway, claiming that households where people were working would have to pay R500 and those without work, R200, while everyone would have to submit their meter numbers.
When asked about the recent statement made by City Power that most Alexandra residents were not buying electricity and had resorted to connecting illegally, she said that was not entirely true.
/file/attachments/orphans/IMG-20260714-WA0015_383178.jpg "Riverpark residents picket outside City Power in Alexandra. (Photo: Mabatho Marakalla)")
“I buy electricity, and I understand why most people don’t buy, because they aren’t working, so how do they expect people to afford it when it’s this expensive… I comply and buy electricity, but I’m still affected with the power cuts.”
“The fridges are not working. We have to buy meat daily and make sure that it is cooked and eaten to avoid it rotting.”
Soweto’s ‘empty promises’
On Monday, residents of the Chicken Farm informal settlement in Kliptown, Soweto, blockaded several roads, including the traffic-heavy Chris Hani Road.
The area, which has never been connected to electricity, falls under Eskom. Recently, a R20-million budget was set aside to electrify Block A, which includes 289 shacks and is close to the new Dlamini Junction Mall. Block B, with 388 shacks, still doesn’t have electricity, leaving residents angry and in despair.
Block B resident Jerome Mdlolo said, “You have children who cannot study properly because there is no light… Even when I buy them the rechargeable lights, there is nowhere to charge them when the batteries die.”
He added: “I have lost hope. They have made too many promises to provide us with electricity, but nothing ever materialises. They promised us that electricity will be installed, but we were surprised to see them connect this side (Block A) and the mall, and that was it.”
“There are far too many empty promises. At this point I don’t even know what the hold-up is,” Mdlolo said. “Even now as you ask me what hope I have, I have no hope.”
Daily Maverick was told that the main problem that led to the work being abandoned appeared to be the non-payment of the consultants responsible for planning the electrification expansion. Eskom had not replied to queries at the time of writing. DM