Hooked to the World Cup: power theft rife in South Africa (Feature)

By Clare Byrne Jul 1, 2010, 3:06 GMT

Diepsloot, South Africa - It's only a half-hour drive from Soccer City stadium. But the township of Diepsloot, situated about 30 kilometres north of Johannesburg, is literally light years from the glitz and glamour of the World Cup.

While hundreds of millions of people across the world tune into the action, thousands of people in this slum, where around 150,000 people live wedged in a sea of wood-and-tin shacks, are barred from the party by a lack of power.

At least one in five households in South Africa does not have electricity. Sparsely-populated rural areas are the last on the list for power. But even in big cities like Johannesburg, large swathes of slums are engulfed in darkness each night.

Enter the illegal connection team - men who make a living out of siphoning power from the national grid or splicing the supply of a willing supplier to light up shacks in places like Diepsloot.

'It's World Cup now. We want to see the World Cup!' says Fungai Makota, a 36-year-old Zimbabwean tuck-shop owner and mother who lives in a particularly squalid part of Diepsloot, which saw violent protests last year over a lack of basic services.

Shortly before the World Cup, Makota paid to be hooked up to the supply of an electrified government-built home across the street from her shop.

A self-taught electrician installed circuit breakers in the electricity distribution box, splitting the power into separate lines that are run under the street into several homes.

Makota pays the owner of the house about 300 rand (40 dollars) a month to power the lights, television, fridge and stove in the 3 metres by 2 shack she shares with her husband and son.

On match nights, her home becomes a mini fan-park as 10 or more neighbours crowd around her small TV.

'Even the ones who don't know about football. I didn't even get space to go in my house,' she says, smiling.

Ten minutes up the road in a public park, the games are being shown for free on giant screen. But watching the games outside on a cold winter's night, and then trying to dodge criminals stalking the dark streets on the way home, is an unsavoury option for most.

'People can gut (kill) you. That's why people fear to go there,' says Makota.

'It's a must to have electricity,' says Nancy, a mother of two, who works at a local healthcare charity. 'Every zozo ( shack) should be given a box (electricity meter).'

Like Makota, Nancy and her husband Brian from the northern Limpopo province have grown tired of waiting for state power supplier Eskom to get around on Diepsloot Extension One and got hooked up to a neighbour's supply.

That's the safest sort of illegal connection, as long as the provider doesn't pile too many people on a small connection and blow up his distribution box. This way consumers also still pay for electricity.

Other electricians just tap the power straight from the Eskom electricity pole for free, despite the danger of electrocuting themselves or passersby.

Maboe Maphaka, senior manager of energy trade at Eskom, estimates at 1 billion rand (over 132 million dollars) the amount the cash-strapped utility loses each year from illegal connections, which also overburden the system and contribute to blackouts.

Fifteen minutes before kickoff in a critical South Africa versus Uruguay game two weeks ago, Diepsloot suffered a blackout that lasted several hours.

'South Africa is hosting and people are not even watching because there is no electricity,' Nancy, who did not wish to give her last name because her husband has a sideline in illegal connections, complains.

And yet, more people here are watching the World Cup than ever before. In 1996, only 30 per cent of households in the country of 49 million had electricity, versus 80 per cent now, according to the ruling African National Congress.

The government aims to clear the backlog by 2014 in time for the Brazil edition of the world's most-watched sporting event.

'We're all working towards that target,' says Mapheka, 'But it's going to be a challenge.'