Thousands of residents from Motherwell who were officially and legally connected to the electricity grid on Tuesday, 26 November 2024, by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality have expressed joy and relief following the electrification of 120 homes at Emithini Informal Settlement.
NMBM Mayoral Committee Member for Electricity and Energy, Cllr Ziyanda Mnqokoyi led the energising of the homes, which symbolised a new dawn for the community and an end of electricity related protests and fights between the informal settlement residents and formal housing residents.
An excited beneficiary, Jongiwe Piko said: “It’s a wonderful day for us today, a day we have been dreaming of for years and it has finally happened. Christmas has definitely come early and we are grateful that we will have a normal and dignified Christmas like other families in this Metro. We were fighting with the formal houses across the street and paying money to have illegal connections but today we are committing that we will remove the illegal connections and work with the Municipality to protect the infrastructure they have given us.”
The 120 households form part of about 700 households earmarked for the energising project in the area. The project is being rolled out in phases.
MMC Mnqokoyi said the Metro was committed to provide safe and legal electrification to all qualifying residents of NMBM, however due to budget constraints and a shortage of meters the process is taking longer than anticipated.
“The primary objective of this project is to electrify the informal settlements throughout the Metro, thus eradicating unsafe illegal connections while providing proper and safe electrical connection to the informal settlements. This electrification program will also allow the Electricity & Energy directorate to better manage its electrical infrastructure from overloading, faults due to illegal connections, and provide the basic constitutional rights to the residents of the Metro. As part of the electrification program, the community is educated on the problems, cost and dangers of illegal connections and the risks in allowing illegal connections to the network.”
“We continue to call on our residents to protect our infrastructure, there are two transformers allocated in this area and it is also their responsibility to look after that infrastructure. They must report any suspected criminal activity on those transformers because when the transformers blow up they suffer the most. We have made a promise to this community that we will come back to electrify more homes but today we are happy to have seen the whole community jovial and welcoming of the progress made so far.”
NMB Communications
Latest posts by NMB Communications (see all)
- Join The Celebration - 26 February 2025
- 6 Municipal Employees Supended - 15 January 2025
- Fishwater Flats Wastewater Treatment Plant Work Progressing Well - 10 January 2025
- Kliprand Protest Brings Action - 7 January 2025
- Mayor Tells Us Why We Had a Successful Festive Season in Nelson Mandela Bay - 6 January 2025
