Illegal connections haunt a business near Zandspruit

An embattled panel beating business along Beyers Naudé Drive in Honeydew has decided to sell its property and start afresh elsewhere, away from the tormenting issue of illegal connections, which is causing the business to suffer huge losses.

The manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said they have lost a lot of business mainly because of illegal electricity connections.

The business is situated within walking distance from the Zandspruit Informal Settlement, where visible, illegally-connected live wires run across Beyers Naudé Drive from street poles to the shacks.

“The illegal connection here is bad. About three weeks ago we were without electricity after our transformer burnt out and we had to spend thousands of rand on diesel to keep the business running,” said the manager.

He explained the reason for the constant outages.

“Illegal connections blow our transformer, causing a major issue. So, every time there’s an overload, the transformer burns. The transformer has been replaced at least three times, already.”

The owner also feared for the safety of children who walk barefoot along the exposed wires. “Another concern is that on weekends children come and play here, which is very dangerous.”

City Power spokesperson, Hloni Motloung explained the negative impact of illegal connections.

“The widespread vandalism of electricity infrastructure impacts negatively on the security of our neighbourhoods and the provision of quality service delivery to the residents of Johannesburg,” he said.

  READ: Zandspruit continues with illegal connections

He added that the City had its own initiatives to clamp down on the scourge. “City Power conducts regular clampdown operations with JMPD and SAPS across the City of Johannesburg to cut off those customers who have bypassed meters, those who refuse meter readers permission to read their meters and those who connect illegally from residential areas to large power users.”

As proof that the City is making progress, Motloung said that City Power is making encouraging progress to combat illegal connections and corruption. “To date, City Power has secured over 274 convictions. For the period October to December 2015, it has recovered over 24 tonnes of stolen cable.”

Ward 114 councillor, Victor Mafinya told the Roodepoort Northsider that there is hope for change in Zandspruit.

“In June, the provincial government has a housing project and will start another project of electrifying some sections of the area such as Ext 15 followed by Ext 16.”