Editorial: Speed up power supply provision

It is difficult to read the heartbreaking story of the death of little Luniko Njikilana without being overwhelmed by the sheer horror of illegal electricity connections in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The 15-month-old boy was electrocuted on Monday when he touched a fence in the yard of his New Brighton home. His is one of 50 shacks in the area illegally connected via low-hanging dangerous cables to a central electricity pole.

It is understood that one of the hanging cables touched the roof of his family shack, passing the current through the zinc walls onto the fence.

The result was always going to be tragic.

Luniko is not the first person to be electrocuted by illegal connections in our city. He is possibly not the last. Increasingly in recent years this newspaper has told devastating stories of the deadly consequences of these connections, let alone the financial implications thereof.

The municipality reported R291-million in electricity theft and technical losses between July 2015 and June last year – with a substantial amount of that likely to have been from illegal connections.

Last year in July alone the metro lost R30-million through illegal connections and meter tampering. This is clearly a crisis. One that led to a promise by Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson to give the city R150-million to fight illegal connections. And thanks to government red tape and even politics, we are yet to see a cent of that money.

While their actions can never be justified, the reality is that many of those who connect illegally do so out of desperation created by years of waiting for basic services from a government that has failed to meet the growing demand quickly and efficiently.

For this, both the metro and national government must shoulder the task to speed up the roll-out of electricity in places where there is a need. They have a legal and moral responsibility to do so.