Residents of Davidsonville will hold a meeting on Sunday, 26 May, to plan for the shutdown scheduled for Monday, 27 May.
The area has been on lock-down since Tuesday, 21 May, with residents complaining that their meter boxes are faulty. According to them, City Power took out some boxes in the area without prior warning, instead of fixing them. That left residents without electricity for a number of days.
Roads in the area have been blockaded with burning tyres and rocks, preventing access into the area.
On Wednesday, 22 May, City Power held a meeting with the residents. It deadlocked because a consensus could not be reached on a solution to the problem.
Thamsanqa Mathiso from City Power said, “We are providing two options to the community – one is that they allow us to come on Monday to fix the meters of those who are not buying power, so they can start doing so. If the community does not allow us to do that, the other option is that we will go ahead and disconnect the supply to the homes of those people.”
This angered the community and led them to demand a meeting with Mayor Herman Mashaba.
Christebell Pienaar, the chairperson of the Davidsonville Community Forum, said, “The Johannesburg Metro Police Department officials reported that the Mayor will be here on Monday.”
“I think they are just trying to calm us down. I do not think he really will be here, but we will wait and see,” she added.
The residents have pledged to continue protesting until the Mayor visits the area.
