Eskom has denied allegations that it was implementing its load reduction programme in a racist manner as most areas that were being cut off were in the townships.
This comes as the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee has accused Eskom of energy racism after parts of the area were plunged into darkness over the weekend.
The committee has charged that only black areas were targeted by load reduction.
Thousands of households in Soweto were plunged into darkness after Eskom implemented load reduction.
Eskom cut off supply to Dobsonville, Naledi, Zola and Emdeni on Sunday to avoid network overloading.
However, Eskom is of the view that load reduction is aimed at densely populated areas to avoid network overloading.
Eskom chief executive Andre de Ruyter told Parliament today that load reduction was not implemented in Soweto alone but across the country in a bid to protect the utility’s assets from overloading, which causes transformers to explode.
De Ruyter said load reduction was a campaign run by Eskom’s distribution unit in order to protect the company’s income statement, and Eskom did communicate in advance about areas to be affected.
“With reduction to load reduction in Soweto, in all areas where Eskom is experiencing illegal connections, we are rolling out installation of prepaid meters,” De Ruyter said.
“This is an endeavour to secure revenue that is due to us and to prevent electricity theft, which unfortunately is still rife in many parts of the country.”
A research report compiled by the Centre for Sociology Research Practice at the University of Johannesburg in May found that black working-class communities were bearing the brunt of the electricity crisis.
The report also stated that in addition to load shedding, the black working class also experienced load reduction.
“The latter is a racist policy of targeting black areas for power failures, aimed at reducing South Africa’s energy demand, given Eskom’s inability to cope,” it said.
De Ruyter also addressed the issue of transferring the supply of electricity in Soweto to the City of Joburg, and promised that strides were being made in this regard in spite of delays.
In June, thousands of Soweto residents marched to the Joburg Mayor’s office and handed over a memorandum of demands, most of which were linked to Eskom amid ongoing stand-offs between residents and the power utility.
De Ruyter said there was a disconnect between political accountability attributable to local councillors and the supply of a very crucial public service such as electricity.
“We have therefore entered into discussions over the past two years with the City Council of Johannesburg, with the view of transferring Soweto to the municipality,” he said.
“The idea behind that is to ensure that we can coincide the delivery of service with political accountability.
“We have had some challenges with fluctuations and turbulence at all levels, but hopefully we can soon be at a level to make progress on this important transaction which we believe will resolve many of the frustrations experienced by residents of Soweto.”
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