Eleven thousand residents of Bottlebrush informal settlement in Shallcross, South of Durban have called on the Ethekwini Municipality to provide them with electricity.
This follows the death of a two-year-old child who was electrocuted by exposed live wires.
His mother sustained injuries.
Community members are calling for the installation of hundreds of pre-paid metres in the area.
Democratic Alliance’s (DA) councillor in the eThekwini Metro, Sharon Hoosen:
“I have made several attempts to petition the municipality to install pre-paid meters to the settlement. Clearly none of this is taken seriously by the city and has fallen on deaf ears. Even last month a full council meeting became chaotic after informal dwellers protested because the council refused to support my question to electrify the Bottlebrush informal settlement. Had they supported this maybe the child’s life may have been saved. It is sad, you know when eThekwini prioritizes programmes that are not people-centred, but are only there to satisfy a selected few who are connected people.”
