Africa-Press – South-Africa. Residents from several villages in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality in Mpumalanga are living in darkness because they can’t buy prepaid electricity recharge tokens from Eskom vendors.
Several people told News24 that the system rejected their transactions when they tried to buy the tokens at supermarket tills. The vendors they tried to buy the tokens from included well-known supermarkets at various shopping malls.
Mfundo Mabena said he tried to buy a R200 recharge token at a supermarket at Phola Mall, Phola Park Village.
“The cashier and store manager told me the till showed an error but insisted that they did not know what caused that error,” Mabena said.
“I bought many Eskom tokens at this supermarket in the past. I was very disappointed even though the store manager told me there were many other customers who also could not buy tokens at that supermarket. I went to another supermarket in the same mall but still could not buy the token for no apparent reason.”
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Mabena returned to his home in Vezubuhle Village and asked his neighbours to store his frozen meat and other perishable food items in their fridges and freezers.
Another customer, Gabisile Ntuli from Thembalethu Village, also hit a snag. Ntuli tried to buy a token at a supermarket at Kwagga Plaza in Kwaggafontein.
“My home does not have electricity even though I have money to buy the recharge token,” said Ntuli. “My children do their schoolwork by candlelight. We have to cook food on a primus stove. Eskom must tell us what is happening and fix this problem quickly.”
Eskom apologised in a statement its communications and stakeholder management practitioner, Phemelo Biloane, sent to News24.
The power utility said the problems were caused by the Supply Group Code project it was running to ensure that its customers bought the correct and legal electricity tokens from authorised vendors.
“Eskom is aware of issues faced by customers when buying electricity tokens in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality and surrounding areas,” it said.
“Customers in the Thembisile Hani Local Municipality are part of the last group to be affected by the project. This is because Eskom has already completed the project in the other district municipalities in Mpumalanga. Customers who encounter issues when buying tokens are urged to call Eskom’s contact centre on 0860 037 566 for assistance.”
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It did not say when it would conclude the project in the municipality.
The spokesperson for Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, Simphiwe Mokoka, said the municipality had also received several complaints.
“Our municipality does not sell prepaid Eskom tokens, and this matter is beyond our control,” Mokoka added.
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