Family driven from home by izinyoka danger

A FAMILY home in Duncan Village has been abandoned for more than three years because of the dangerous illegal connections to a mini substation crossing the property.

The Daily Dispatch visited the area and saw live wires on the ground in Xola Menziwa’s yard across from the mini substation to a nearby informal settlement.

Fearing for their lives in their four-roomed houme and not getting the problem resolved with the Buffalo City Metro, Menziwa moved his family to a shack in Scenery Park.

“This problem has been going on since 2008, and has merely escalated over the years instead of getting better. Now they [illegal wires] have taken over the entire street.”

Menziwa said his home had turned into a “horror house” with electrical cables exploding on rainy days. “This area is not safe for our children, so we stayed away, hoping the municipality would do something about it, but they have done nothing despite several visits to the Beacon Bay and Chiselhurst bureaus. We have even written letters but they have also fallen on deaf ears,” he said.

“For weeks there would be no electricity in the whole area because of these illegal connections.

“Who can live like that? Living in fear that one day the house may explode? We can’t do anything about it and our only hope is the municipality, which is not doing anything about it,” said Menziwa.

BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said a team of electricians and engineers would investigate.

“If we do find illegal electricity connections, BCM will disconnect and remove them. The challenge, however, is that as soon as we leave the area, izinyoka are likely to reconnect illegally.

“The issue of illegal electricity connections is a grave concern to the metro, as these connections continue to kill and injure people.”

Cindi said the municipality relied on the community to curb illegal connections. “The public must report izinyoka and refrain from using illegal electricity.

“Our engineers must continue to disconnect, the police must arrest those breaking the law, and the criminal justice system must take the crime of illegal connection and copper theft as a serious crime and severely punish those who get involved,” he said. —