ELDERLY residents in Evaton, South Africa, report living without reliable electricity for nearly ten years, urging government authorities to intervene amid worsening living conditions. Pensioners state they have been forced to use portions of their old-age grants to pay neighbors in electrified areas to charge lamps, phones, and other essential devices.
Community members attribute the prolonged outages to broken or stolen transformers that have not been promptly repaired. They describe a compounding infrastructure challenge: when one transformer fails and remains unrepaired, households redirect connections to adjacent units, causing overloads and subsequent failures. In response to delays, some residents have reportedly pooled resources to purchase transformers independently.
The darkened streets, residents say, have created conditions that enable criminal activity to go undetected, heightening safety concerns for vulnerable seniors. “We are very disappointed,” one resident expressed, emphasizing that elderly citizens should be prioritized for essential service restoration.
Both the Emfuleni Local Municipality and Eskom have been cited by residents as unresponsive to repeated appeals. In response, Eskom officials confirmed that reconnection efforts are actively underway. A representative stated that approximately 560 customers were reconnected during the previous financial year, with work progressing in phases aligned with approved budgets and available funding. The utility noted that infrastructure planning follows a five-year strategic framework to address systemic challenges in the area.
With winter approaching and temperatures declining, Evaton’s elderly residents are renewing calls for accelerated transformer repairs and stable power restoration, citing heightened health and safety risks associated with prolonged darkness and cold.
