Tsutsumani residents stop installation of smart meters
ALEX - Tsutsumani residents will today (14 July) take to streets to protest against the installation of smart meters in their former All-Africa Sports Village.
UPDATE: 14 July 2014: 12:30pm –
A crowd of about 250 Tsutsumani residents have managed to block the installation of smart meters in their village pending an outcome of a meeting to be held tomorrow (15 July).
The meeting will be between the residents’ committee, the police, Ward 105 Councillor Joyce Ngwenya and representatives from City of Johannesburg’s power utility company, City Power. The meeting is meant to find a way forward in the impasse regarding the installations of the smart meters.
Karel Monyapao, a member of the residents committee, claimed that residents were never consulted about the pending installation of the meters. “All we see now are people who came knocking on our doors and claiming to be from City Power and have come to install new meters.”
When the installations were proposed, Monyapao said residents asked for a meeting with MMC [for infrastructure Development] Matshidiso Mfikoe, “who never honoured proposed meetings and the next thing we are seeing people showing up on our doorsteps and want to install some meters”.
Ngwenya and acting station commander of the Alexandra Police Station Col Tshabalala who were on the scene both refused to comment on the issue.
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Initial report: 13 July 2014, 2:30pm – Tensions have been mounting over the past week when City Power, the electricity utility of the City of Johannesburg, announced its plans to expand the installations to the rest of the village, which are due to begin this week (14 July).
A meeting is understood to have been held with Ward 105 Councillor Joyce Ngwenya, where residents expressed their displeasure with the installations of
the smart meters which are perceived by residents to be more expensive in terms of consumption than the previous ordinary meters.
Council maintains the installations will go ahead and the new meters are tamper-proof hence the resistance from residents. Some township residents are
known to bridge their electricity meters for lesser consumption levels but this is not possible with the smart meters which automatically report any form
of tampering to the authorities.
At the meeting, residents are said to have blatantly told councillor Ngwenya that they would ‘resist and disrupt’ the planned installations to which the councillor allegedly said “I will have no choice but to unleash the police on you”.
Residents then approached councillor Shadrack Mkhonto, who also warned them against the consequences of the planned disruptions.
“You can protest and vent your anger and disapproval of the installations but do not disrupt the installations and intimidate the workers as you will
open yourselves liable to arrest, as your ward councillor has warned,” Mkhonto said.
The same smart meters caused mayhem when they were installed in River Park this time last year but ultimately went ahead after a breakdown in
negotiations. The smart meters have already been installed in some parts of Tsutsumani.
