Mamelodi mother of three Rendani Ntimbani from Nellmapius has been struggling to cook for her family after the City of Tshwane cut her power three weeks ago – and the municipalty has turned a deaf ear to her problems.
The Citizen has over three weeks also in vain attempted to obtain comment from various officials.
Ntimbani said she was “so stressed because I had to throw away all our food, chicken, beef – all of it because we have no power” and had to cook on a fire outside before she bought a one plate paraffin stove.
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“Two weeks ago, I was cooking pap outside on the fire when I fell with the pots. “Luckily, I didn’t get burned. When it started raining, I took the pap off the fire and fell as I ran into the house, ‘’ she said.
Ntimbani said their power was cut on 21 November when the city was working on her neighbour’s power connection.
“I phone them daily but still nothing. They have given me three reference numbers,” she said.
Ntimbani said when a council technician came the first time, he told her the circuit breaker had broken and referred her to the Watloo office.
She went to the office the following day only to return to a dark house again.
“They tell us to go back home and wait for them to come to fix it.
“We waited the whole day. They arrived the following day to tell me they suspected it was a cable. But my neighbours still have power,” she said.
Ntimbani said she could not afford the R50 for two litres of paraffin a day to cook for her family.
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“We are suffering because I’m not working. I need to buy R50’s worth every day to cook food for my family.
“You can’t sleep if you did not eat. I can’t cook, I can’t iron, I can’t do anything,” she said.
Ntimbani wiped her tears away with her T-shirt as she described what the past three weeks without power had been like.
“I see the city’s cars pass here every day and I am still without power. I don’t know what to do,” she said.
Her husband, Sam, said when he phoned the city to get clarity about the power cut, he was told a circuit breaker had broken on a pole near their house.
“I went there on Sunday, because I can’t take off from work as I am the only breadwinner. When we arrived, they told us that we shouldn’t have come as no one is there,” he said.
He phoned again in the week and was given another reference number.
“On 4 December they phoned me about coming to repair the power in the rain. How can they work in the rain on power,” he said.
When Ntimbani called the call centre, the operator said the case was signed off the previous day. “But we still don’t have power,” he said.
ANC regional spokesperson Bafuze Yabo said this was not an isolated case. “In Soshanguve there was an entire block without power for up to five days,” he said. This was becoming common, he said.
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