Mdantsane residents unhappy with new prepaid meter boxes

Scores of fed-up Mdantsane residents spent the better part of Monday protesting at the entrance of Designer Lighting in the Fort Jackson industrial zone.

Designer Lighting was hired by Buffalo City Metro to install new electricity prepaid meter boxes which residents claim consume too much power.

More than 100 residents from NU2, NU8, N12, NU6, NU7 and NU10 demanded to meet bosses at the company, saying BCM did not treat their grievances with the urgency it demanded, and so they hoped Designer Lighting might “talk sense to BCM” and abandon the installations.

Employees at the firm stood outside and watched in amusement as residents, carrying placards with the wording “BCMM must protect all ratepayers” patiently waited for management to come out.

An inquiry was sent to BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya,

but no response had been received by the time of going to print on Monday.

Attempts to get comment from Designer Lighting were also unsuccessful after the receptionist, who did not give her name, refused to provide the contact details of her bosses.

Community leader Thembani Javu, from NU8, said they wanted the Hexing meter boxes to be removed, claiming that the devices used too much electricity.

He said they had tried all available avenues to get through to the municipality, but “no-one cares at BCM”.

“BCM never consults the community when they do these things. We are here to put pressure on BCM’S clients to speak to their bosses in order for them to recognise the urgency of our grievance, because residents can’t afford to buy electricity at this rate,” Javu said.

“BCM is now ignoring us; ad we’ve been to the City Hall countless times recently, but no-one listens to us. We want these boxes removed from our homes.

“And, on top of that, in the midst of all this, there’s a report from the auditor-general which says there is wasteful expenditure of R2.4bn on water and electricity at BCM.”

In April, the Dispatch reported that BCM was on the brink of collapse after Eastern Cape auditor-general Shereen Noble informed the council of a litany of failures, including revenue targets not being reached.

Noble revealed the city had lost R295m in electricity revenue and R126m in water revenue; and officials had allegedly attempted to hide through omission details of R2.4bn in irregular expenditure, especially in the supply chain management unit.

“While BCM fails to electrify shacks in our community, we read the Dispatch report from the auditor-general that they are misusing funds and they expect us to [pay] more.

“It’s only politicians who have discretion on who can get electricity it’s not done fairly. We want BCM to remove these boxes from every house and focus their energy on electrifying shacks that need power. They can’t be spending money on houses that already have electricity.

“They must give us back our old boxes, and electrify shacks at NU8 and NU10,” Javu said.

Sipho Plaatjie from NU8 said: “We have community leaders and forums who are supposed to be informed about everything, but that never happens. Old people run out of electricity every day because of these boxes.

“A R50 electricity voucher can last you two days then you have to buy more electricity. It’ sa disaster. But in Ngidi Park, which was established in 1990, people still do not have electricity.

“All those boxes must be removed urgently, otherwise we’ll embark on something bigger, because the whole of Mdantsane is going to stand up against this,” Plaatjie said.