Be responsible, pay for your electricity - Ramaphosa
President Cyril has urged South Africans to pay for the electricity they use and stop the trend of illegal connections.
He was speaking in Katlehong on Friday, where he was launching the government’s Vooma vaccination drive.
Some residents used the opportunity to complain to the president about the electricity woes in Ekurhuleni.
Eskom has also cut off electricity in some areas in Johannesburg due to illegal connections.
"Eskom is willing and prepared to do the best it can, it is not willfully and intentionally disconnecting people, a number of our people are connecting electricity illegally and that exerts a lot of pressure on the grid and the transformer which then go bust," replied Ramaphosa.
"In Soweto, people have been connecting illegally and transformer bust and costs money, in Soweto alone, Eskom needed 42 transformers and the last time I was there 8 or 10, transformers aren't readily available on the shelves, they have to be ordered and manufactured.”
He said in Ekurhuleni some 100 transformers have exploded due to illegal connections.
"The message we are sending to our people is that, let us be responsible, let us pay for our electricity usage and desists from illegal connections because Eskom can connect people directly.
“Many of these illegal connections come from people who rent out backrooms and who live in informal settlements, that can be easily managed, Eskom can connect those people to the grid," added Ramaphosa.
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