Tensions between the Community and ELM Workers in Bophelong

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Tensions flared up in Muvhango Extension Bophelong (a township near Vanderbijlpark, south of Gauteng) recently resulting in an Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) electricity team of workers fleeing the area.

On 5 September 2020, the electricity workers were busy installing a new transformer in Muvhango Extension 16. The team met with an angry community who demanded to know in which area they would be installing the transformer in as they, the community, didn’t have electricity.

One of the community members said: “It’s been months for us, and weeks for others, without electricity. We felt that we should be the first ones to be supplied with electricity, before other areas.”

The electricity employees had no choice but to pack-up their tools and drive away for their own safety.

This article was submitted on 8 September 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.

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