Furious Soweto Residents Take Their Protest to Eskom's Front Door
- Soweto residents are fed up with continuous blackouts and have taken their grievances directly to Eskom
- Protestors gathered outside Megawatt Park and let Eskom know exactly how they feel; some residents do not believe that the blackouts are related to loadshedding
- Eskom increased loadshedding from Stage 2 to Stage 4 and plunged South Africa into darkness between 2pm and 10pm
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Angry residents of Soweto have taken their grievances directly to Eskom. Videos have been posted to social media of angry Sowetans protesting against the township's continuous power cuts outside Megawatt Park.
According to eNCA some residents claim that the outages that plague Soweto are not related to the planned loadshedding implemented by Eskom.
Source: Getty Images
Stage 4
On Wednesday, Eskom implemented Stage 4 power cuts which left people without power between 2pm and 10pm.
This was necessary after the power utility lost generational capacity at Kusile and other power plants.
@SibahleMo:
"#Eskom Nhlanhla Lux, one of the residents from Soweto who marched to Eskom against power outages, was not taking any sort of excuse from management."
IOL reported that disgruntled Sowetans have been without stable power for a whole year and took to the streets to protest.
Sowetans are not alone in their anger
As Covid-19 continues to negatively impact the country with the economy arguably taking the biggest blow the implementation of loadshedding, the upgrade to Stage 4 seems to be the salt on the wound for many South Africans.
Apart from businesses dependant on electricity losing money due to power cuts, many South Africans have taken to home-based online work as a last resort following the pandemic, a sector that is completely shut down by loadshedding.
André de Ruyter says sorry
Eskom CEO André de Ruyter released a public 'apology' for the issues faced by South Africans in terms of loadshedding. Stage 2 loadshedding was implemented earlier this week and is expected to conclude on Friday, 4 May.
Reports have revealed that the power utility made the situation for many Saffas worse as unscheduled power cuts occurred in many parts of the country. There have also been cases of power not returning at the end of the scheduled time.
De Ruyter stated that while loadshedding has been going on for over 15 years, there are a number of issues that have caused the regular power cuts. He explained that one of the reasons is a lack of maintenance dating back to the apartheid regime.
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Source: Briefly News
