Angry protesters blocked roads in Mamelodi East on Tuesday 04 August 2020 in protest of continuous power cuts that lasted for almost three weeks.
The protestors closed the exit and entrances of the township preventing residents from entering or leaving.
Residents at White City and Tsakane prevented any economic activity from taking place until their concerns were met.
An angry resident, Ms Itumeleng Maepa, 38, said since 26 July 2020 the City of Tshwane left them with no electricity.
“At first we did not take it seriously because we thought it was just load shedding, but after a full day with no electricity, we submitted our concerns to the municipality offices and we were ignored as if we do not pay our bills.”
Because of the lack of electricity, residents lost food in their refrigerators and had to throw the food away.
“We do not want to be viewed as people who are prone to strikes and protests as a means of communicating with the municipality, but we were ignored and there was no communication coming forward,” said Ms Maepa.
Mr Lindela Mashigo, Communications Director at the city of Tshwane, said the City is aware of the ongoing demonstrations taking place in Mamelodi East.
“Following the court interdict obtained against the labor union(s) and disruption of municipal services, the City is making an effort to see to it that power supply is restored for residents to go on with their day to day activities.
“Our artisans that are reporting for duty have been threatened and intimidated by the strikers. However, the municipality commits to addressing the backlog of outages in spite of the challenges related to the unrest,” said Mr Mashigo.
