Africa-Press – South-Africa. Residents of Thembisa in Ekurhuleni took to the streets to protest on Sunday night and Monday morning, complaining they cannot afford the latest electricity tariff surcharge.
Several major routes in Thembisa were blocked off with stones and burning tyres.
The new electricity tariff surcharge of R126 a month was implemented from the beginning of July.
Mithe Mokgotadi, 55, who said he has lived in Thembisa his whole life, told Sowetan: “In May I was billed R12,000 and this month I’ve been billed R3,000. That is for everything, from rates to water. And on top of that, I still need to make payment for electricity.
“Paying R250 gets you at least 64 units, but that is not enough. It can last you three days at most, and so I have to keep buying electricity.
“I live in a house where there is more than five of us and I don’t have a job. I only sell apples and some vegetables from home to make do with what I have. But it’s not enough, because in a month I spend at least R3,000 on electricity — and now they want to make matters worse by increasing the tariff.
“At this point they want us to turn to crime and making illegal connections because we are really struggling — but they don’t see that. They are mugging us of the little we have.”
Another resident, Enos Mohlari, 60, said he applied to fall into the indigent category in April and is baffled why he has been billed.
“Just a few days ago, I received a statement saying that I owed the municipality more than R3,000 — I am being forced to pay,” he said.
“My hands are tied because I don’t have the money to pay these bills. I don’t work at all, but they’re billing me amounts that I don’t have in my account. And now they want us to pay more for electricity. It’s not fair, the units we get barely get us by.”
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