WeeklySA_AdminCONNECTION: Families at Lenasia South informal settlement, south of Johannesburg, mourn nine loved ones electrocuted by illegal electricity connections this year as residents demand a formal supply after nearly a decade without power…
By Lerato Kolisang
For 64-year-old Josephine Nyama, a phone call from neighbours at 6am on New Year’s Day brought devastating news: her brother had been found dead on live wires used for illegal electricity connections in Meriting, Lenasia South, south of Johannesburg.
“I was shaking, I lost my thinking for a second,” she says. “I asked my daughter and other family members to go and identify if it was him.”
Her daughter returned and confirmed that it was her brother, Steven Nyama, who was 67.
Just four months later, in May, Nyama’s three-year-old granddaughter was electrocuted while playing with friends at a neighbour’s house. The child touched a fence that was in contact with a live wire from an illegal electricity connection. Neighbours managed to pull her away.
How many more children should die before government sees
that we have a crisis in Meriting?
“Luckily neighbours were able to rush and remove her from the fence, I almost lost her as well,” Nyama says.
Nine deaths reported this year
Nyama says her brother’s death has affected her mental health.
“After losing my brother I was never the same. I survived on alcohol almost every day to numb the pain. My brother was my support system. We were close and looked after each other. My family is incomplete.”
Meriting Phase 2, an extension of Phase 1, is an informal settlement that has been without a formal electricity supply since it was established in 2017.
Some residents have connected illegally to the electricity network in Phase 1. Residents told Health-e News they pay between R250 and R300 a month to individuals running the illegal connection racket, locally known as izinyoka.
Nyama says residents resort to these connections because living without electricity comes at a high cost. Candles, paraffin and gas are expensive for households already struggling financially.
Community leader Tibi Kotedi says electrocutions linked to illegal connections have claimed nine lives this year, including five children aged between three and 10.
Health-e News could not independently verify these figures. Police in nearby Ennerdale and Lenasia told the publication they do not record individual incidents by cause of death.
Kotedi says residents who turned to illegal connections had hoped they would be a temporary solution.
“The illegal connections were not supposed to last this long. It has become our killer. The community is scared of its own temporary solution,” he says.
He says successive political administrations have promised residents electricity, yet the settlement has remained without a formal supply for almost a decade.
Families mourn their children
Mahlatse* told Health-e News that her six-year-old daughter died after coming into contact with an illegal electricity connection in February 2026.
Her daughter had just returned from school and changed out of her uniform when a friend came to fetch her to play nearby.
“In less than 10 minutes I heard neighbours calling me. When I went out, my daughter was laying on the ground lifeless a few houses from ours. She was electrocuted by an illegal connection,” she says.“My house is empty, quiet and lonely. I miss her every day.”
Another resident, Ntwaki Molefe, lost her 16-year-old son four years ago. She says he was electrocuted near a railway field while going to relieve himself because there was no toilet at home.
“How many more children should die before government sees that we have a crisis in Meriting?”
City Power explains delays
In September, hundreds of Meriting Phase 2 residents protested to demand formal electricity connections.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena acknowledged that residents are connecting illegally to the existing electricity network. However, he says the process of providing a formal supply cannot begin immediately.
According to Mangena, the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Human Settlements must first determine the status of the land and whether the settlement qualifies for the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme.
The area must then be planned and prepared for basic services before City Power can design and install electricity infrastructure.
City Power warned that illegal connections pose safety risks to residents and the electricity network.
Residents demand action
Puseletso Nzimande, identified as a Ward 120 councillor contesting the local elections in Meriting, says she has begun engaging with the Department of Human Settlements and community representatives about service delivery.
She says she has also requested solar high-mast lighting from City Power because residents feel unsafe.
The current ward councillor and the City of Johannesburg’s Department of Human Settlements did not respond to Health-e News’ questions.
For Nyama, electricity is now the most important service she wants from the next political administration.
“I no longer care about having toilets or running water. After the November 2026 election, I want electricity for Meriting Phase 2”. – Health-e News
