A handful of Bonteheuwel residents gathered on the corner of Jakes Gerwel Drive and Bluegum Road, on Saturday, to protest against high electricity costs.

The group told the Athlone News that they felt oppressed and exploited and often had to choose between buying food or electricity.

Zainunesa Buffkins, one of the residents, said it was the first of further protests planned for the area.

“We want the decision-makers to come out and speak to us. The City of Cape Town preaches that they are there for the working class, but actions speak louder than words,” Ms Buffkins said.

Whahieda Robertson, another resident, claimed that the new electricity boxes installed by the municipality took three times more energy than the older boxes.

“Those are three-phase electricity boxes, which means we have to fork out more money for electricity. Enough is enough. Their vision is blinded and they are widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Why must our community be forced to survive? I go into people’s homes and some of them can’t even afford a bar of soap. They make our people feel like animals running into the road to pick up scraps of food. They have taken our people’s dignity away,” Ms Robertson said.

Pensioner Mavis Allen, 69, said she received 12 units of electricity for R50.

“I have a geyser and a heater and I can’t even use it. I can’t even bake a cake. I spend R1 000 on electricity a month, and every second month, I spend R1 600 because the R600 I use to refill my gas tank. There is very little left for food, considering the amount of pension we get,” she said.

When asked about the indigent grants and pensioner rebates offered by the City, Ms Buffkins said: “They give us a problem, and then they come up with a solution to make them look like they are the saviours. They created these circumstances. They are mind manipulators.”

The City of Cape Town, however, blamed Eskom for the high electricity tariffs.

In a statement, the City said there has been a spike in electricity meter box tampering across Area South in response to Eskom’s “unaffordable and unreasonable electricity price hikes”.

“Currently more than 12 000 electricity meters metro-wide have been established as having been tampered with, setting up electricity theft. It is not sustainable for the City as the income lost is essential to help pay for the cost of providing electricity. Without it, and if too many people steal electricity, there will eventually not be enough income to cover the cost of providing services as the income already does not cover service provision sufficiently,” said mayoral committee member for energy Xanthea Limberg.

She encouraged qualifying residents to apply for subsidies that are available for struggling households.

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