LEBOGANG SEALE
A SOWETO mom has tried for years to get Eskom to remove an electricity distribution box inside her yard.
Fikile Maepa of Protea North considers her children lucky to have survived the danger posed by the electricity box since 1996, when she and her husband bought the property.
The metal box, serving nine other households in the neighbourhood, is awkwardly mounted on a cracked concrete slab near their driveway, just 3 metres from the front door.
The family of seven have to walk around it before they enter the house in Butchingi Street. The kitchen drain is less than 4m from the box.
The metal box covering the electrical wires is rusted at the bottom. Inside, circuit breakers linking nine of the Maepa family’s neighbours’ electricity supply can be seen among the network of wires.
Bold letters warning residents about the danger of the electricity box are clearly visible on its metal cover.
“Unauthorised entry not allowed. Vandalism and interfering with electricity equipment is a prosecutable crime and offence,” reads the notice.
The Maepas’ neighbours often disturb them because they need to come into the yard to lift the circuit breakers when the electricity trips.
“It’s a real nightmare because it happens mostly at night. It’s like our house is an Eskom substation,” said Fikile.
She stays with her husband, four children and a granddaughter, aged four.
“If we arrive home late in the evening or at night, they (the neighbours) will be right at the gate before we even enter. We help them because we understand their problem.”
The danger the electricity box poses to the children bothers the family a lot.
“My little daughter likes to swim here in her inflatable pool with her friends because it’s the only open space in the yard. They also play with water guns.
“We always have to keep an eye on them because, as you know, water and electricity don’t mix,” said Lerato Maepa, the mother of four-year-old Lesedi.
“The previous owner said he would get Eskom to remove the box, but nothing happened,” said Fikile.
Lerato added they had asked Eskom’s local Midway office to help remove the box, but their requests had been ignored.
“They would just come and promise to fix the problem, but nothing happens.
“Each time we try to do a follow up, we would find a new person, so we have to start all over again to register the problem.”
Compounding their woes is that there are conflicting responses from the Midway office.
“Some insist we must pay before they can move the box,” said Lerato.
An official at the Midway office said the family would have to pay a fee to have the box removed. “We will have to come to your house to take a quotation (for relocating the meter),” the official told Lerato.
This was no consolation to the affected families.
“Sometimes I just sleep without electricity because I am tired of troubling my neighbours,” said Bertha Letsatsi, 66, who lives next door to the Maepas.
Eskom spokeswoman Tumi Moloi said the utility would investigate the problem.