Old age home in Pietermaritzburg without power for days due to illegal connections

The electricity crisis in the city, Pietermaritzburg sparked a protest Tuesday night that went on until Wednesday morning as residents living in one the city’s hostels staged a demonstration, closing the road with burning tyres and demanding to be reconnected.

An old age home in the CBD is among the places hit hard by power outages going five days without power.

The Msunduzi municipality publishes a list of outages in the area that shows close to 20 areas that are facing power outages.

Municipal spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha said power to the hostel had been cut due to non-payment of debt and illegal connections. The connections were affecting the city’s fragile electricity network which was causing outages in other areas. This was affecting the paying customers.

Image: pragorg.com

By Everngelista Muza