Frustrated Benoni residents are demanding urgent intervention from the City of Ekurhuleni after large parts of the suburb were left without electricity for more than 10 days, disrupting daily life and causing significant financial losses.
Communities say the prolonged outage has forced households to discard thousands of rands worth of spoiled food, while vulnerable residents face serious health risks due to the lack of power.
Electricity supply was initially interrupted on 23 and 24 January, before being restored on 27 January. However, residents say the power lasted only a few hours before they were plunged back into darkness.
The affected areas include Rynfield, Northmead, Mackenzie Park, Rynsoord, New Modder, Western Extension and Benoni’s central business district.
For some residents, the situation has become more than an inconvenience. Jeff Smith, who suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and relies on supplemental oxygen, says the outage has put his health at risk.
“It’s been desperate. I need oxygen overnight because my blood oxygen levels drop. The only alternative is trying to sleep upright, but with my injured back that’s very difficult. Every morning I wake up exhausted and weak. It’s unbearable,” he said.
Smith added that his household has thrown away several bags of spoiled food, compounding the strain. Living on a pension, he said replacing groceries has been financially and emotionally taxing. Although he has an inverter, the oxygen machine drains it within hours and there is no way to recharge it without electricity.
Ward 73 councillor Mary Goby criticised the metro’s response, describing communication with residents as inadequate.
“In the beginning, there were updates, but now we can go 72 hours without hearing anything. Even a 24-hour progress report would help. The lack of communication is our biggest concern,” she said.
Residents are now calling on the municipality to restore power urgently and provide clear updates on the cause of the outage and when supply will be fully stabilised.