- Residents from Sonlandpark, Falcon Ridge, and surrounding areas have been without power since Friday.
- Mayoral spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng said that work was being done to restore power.
- The municipality is also facing water pressure cuts by Rand Water because of non-payment.
Angry residents of Emfuleni Municipality, in Johannesburg, marched in darkness to the home of Mayor Gift Moerane on Sunday after they had been without electricity since Friday.
The mayor’s spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng corrected reports on social media that residents had cut power to the mayor's complex, saying that there had been a power failure before residents arrived.
In videos shared on social media about 100 residents can be seen marching towards the complex, where the mayor lives, demanding answers for the power outage.
WATCH | Residents of #Emfuleni took it upon themselves to go to their mayor’s house to disconnect his electricity due to the lack of service delivery in the municipality. #EmfuleniMustFall pic.twitter.com/YSTezMn81z
— Update South Africa (@Update_ZA) November 9, 2020
Mofokeng told News24 on Monday that residents were still without power, but work to try to restore it was still underway.
"A team of electricians was sent out to access the damaged cable they found that the municipality did not have the capacity to fix the fault so a service provider was deployed," said Mofokeng.
Mofokeng said that it was difficult to say when power would be restored as they had initially hoped the issue would have been fixed by Saturday.
On Monday #EmfuleniMustFall trended on Twitter with residents not only complaining about the power outage, but also ongoing water issues.
#emfulenimustfall ??now smells like Vereeniging,@EmfuleniLM is a disgrace to the whole Vaal Nation,They turned everything upside down,potholes,towns being converted to capital city of foreigners ????????I miss Mark Park Fountain,I miss Vrega City Hall chillaz with its fountain????
— ????Suzan Kasa-Tsubella (@STsubella) November 9, 2020
Meanwhile, Rand Water threatened to cut water pressure in the municipality by 20% due to no payment.
In an interview on eNCA on Monday, Moerane said that they would be going into negotiation meetings with the water service board.