Mayor called a liar as residents still wait for electricity connection

LIVID residents in an East London informal settlement yesterday labelled Buffalo City Metro mayor Xola Pakati a liar, after he failed to keep his promise of electrifying 200 homes by Christmas.

Last month, Pakati promised Mzamomhle residents that by Christmas every household would have electricity. But that remains a pipe dream as only 15 houses were electrified.

Now residents are threatening to illegally connect electricity.

When the Dispatch visited the area yesterday, residents told of how they had yet another dark festive season.

Lungiswa Ninzi, who has not had electricity for four years, said she was present when the mayor promised residents electricity.

“They came out in their numbers when they promised the electricity, but since then no one has been back to tell us anything. Even the houses that now have electricity, we don’t know why they it have and we don’t.”

Another resident, Nomimi Simani, accused the mayor of disrespecting them and lying on local radio.

“He was even on radio saying he had given electricity to the ‘poor residents of Mzamomhle’, but here we are waiting aimlessly.

“What must we do with street lights when we’re sitting in the dark in our homes? We’ve been living in the dark for years now,” she said.

Vuyani Coko said: “Ulimenemene lo mayor [this mayor is a liar]. Less than 20 homes have electricity, yet he made endless promises here.

“We couldn’t even feast like other people this festive. We’re scared to even leave our homes now fearing that we’ll miss the BCM trucks, if they’re even coming back,” Coko said.

The residents have threatened to take matters into their own hands and connect illegally to the street lights, a measure they said they didn’t want to resort to, but felt compelled because of their circumstances.

“We don’t even want to protest because toi-toying won’t help us, we just want lights”, Slindokuhle Mhlaba said.

Asiphe Bekeni’s home is one of the few that has electricity, and she said she feared that this would cause conflict with other residents.

“The BCM truck arrived on December 31 and just switched our lights on. We’re relieved to have electricity, but we aren’t happy that we have it and others don’t,” Bekeni said.

Pakati’s spokesman Luzuko Buku promised that the remaining houses would be electrified by the end of the month.

“The municipality has on its part provided all the necessary infrastructure for the electrification of the houses but by law the power can only be switched on when the certificates have been issued.”

The certificate of compliance is issued by the department of human settlements.

Provincial human settlements spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha could not be reached for comment. –