Africa-Press – South-Africa. An argument over an illegal electricity connection at an informal settlement in Kaalfontein, east of Midrand, has left a 32-year-old man stabbed to death.
Police spokesperson Captain Ben Matimulane said the fight on 13 November was between the owners of formal stands and people from the adjacent informal settlement.
“The victim apparently came home from an outing and was told that some people known to them came and took out an electric cable, leaving them without electricity,” Matimulane said.
He said the man had gone to investigate, but could not find the person responsible for taking the cable.
“Shortly afterwards, another man whom the deceased had a scuffle with, came back with a group of people, and during the mix-up, the victim was stabbed once in the chest. He died at a local clinic a short while later,” Matimulane said.
According to a source, who chose to remain anonymous, the deceased had been beaten with a frying pan by the wife of the suspect and later the husband stabbed him to death.
The source said the person believed to be the one behind the murder had since fled the area.
The issue of illegal electricity connection had been ongoing for a while, ward councillor Charmaine Ngoepe said.
“Extention 5 and 4 in Kaalfontein and Allendale have been without electricity. This is because they have been waiting for a transformer for over nine months.”
As a result, Ngoepe said, many of the residents “informally connected” to the electricity grid of the “formal settlement”.
“They do so through street lights, and [thereby] overloading transformers. Some of these grids are meant for 80 houses, then you find that over 200 houses are connected, which then causes these transformers to burn.”
Ngoepe said she had tried on many occasions to caution those in the informal settlement not to resort to illegal connections, but to no avail.
Illegal electricity connections are an issue for Eskom as well.
Power utility spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha said they had spent billions every year to replace equipment lost in “these illegal activities”, which only added to its ongoing financial woes, and to the cost of producing electricity for paying customers.
He said transformers and mini-substations were being damaged by illegal connections, which resulted in some communities spending weeks or months without electricity while replacement equipment was sought.
“This causes losses in terms of lost sales, equipment and labour costs to Eskom, but it also costs members of the community a lot of money in terms of businesses that are not able to operate due to lack of electricity,” Mantshansha said.
“The amount of destroyed transformers also causes a backlog running in the thousands, as the suppliers cannot keep up with demand for equipment, particularly in the high-demand period during the winter.”
Mantshantsha encouraged members of the community to report any illegal activity observed on its infrastructure, as they were the ones who would suffer from any theft.
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