Eskom Senior Manager for maintenance and operation in Gauteng, Mashangu Shivhambu says lack of payment for electricity from some of its clients has led to reckless usage which causes severe and dangerous damage to the power supply system.

Earlier this week, Diepkloof residents in Soweto shut down the N1 highway entry to the township, in protest after being without power for two weeks.

Eskom cut power to parts of Diepkloof, saying that residents have caused losses of about R96 million over the past eight months.

“If we continue running the system continuously without switching off, then the equipment fails and some of the equipment when they fail, they fail violently, which can be a danger to our community. It has got oil inside, it can burn people nearby and it can cause electrocution of people in close proximity. So the reason why we are disconnecting networks is to make sure that our equipment does not fail, which might lead to loss of life and to equipment at the same time,” says Shivhambu.

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