Some disgruntled residents from informal settlements in Wellington and Mbekweni protested outside Drakenstein Municipality’s head office in Paarl on Thursday, demanding that the municipality deliver on its “promises” of electrifying their informal households.
The 100-strong group, who demanded to be addressed by Executive Mayor Stephen Korabie, claimed some of the informal settlements in Wellington and Mbekweni had been without electricity for nearly 11 years.
Fernando Manelfé, a resident of Die Tuine informal settlement, said his stay and that of others there was legalised through an application granted by the Wellington Magistrates’ Court as long ago as 2013.
He claimed his application stipulated the municipality ought to provide basic services, including electricity.
“For almost 11 years promises upon promises were made that we would get electricity. Our own councillor, who does not even stay in the ward, is nowhere to be found.
“This is the second time we are protesting this week. This time we came right to municipality’s doorstep.”
According to Manelfé the electrification of informal settlements in the area was crucial, due particularly to what he described as an “increase” in structural fires.
“People have resorted to connecting to nearby houses. This is much more expensive than we would have paid if we had our own meters.”
He said short-circuiting had been found to stem from poor and unsafe electrical connections and was a common cause of structural fires.
Manelfé said residents of a total of seven informal settlements had marched to the municipal offices on Thursday.
By 12:00, when Paarl Post left the protest, no municipal official had addressed the crowd.
Police and municipal Law Enforcement officers were present to maintain law and order.
In February last year Paarl Post reported on residents of the New Rest Informal Settlement, who also claimed they had been without electricity for nearly eight years.
At the time Executive Director for Engineering Services Louis Pienaar said Drakenstein Municipality was not obliged, mandated or funded to provide the 43 informal settlements within its municipal area with electricity.
“We are obliged to provide water, sewerage and refuse collection services.
“Electricity connections for our registered informal settlements rely mostly on grant funding, and can be installed only if our bulk-supply network has adequate capacity to handle the additional load or demand.
“Given the challenges outlined above regarding bulk-supply capacity, in terms of available funding for this it is unlikely provision for electrifying the households of New Rest/Die Tuine will be included in the short-term budget framework,” he said.
