Maybe we should be re-directing the MBDA to project manage this?
Shacks
Over the last couple of months I have been transporting a casual employee back to his shack in Motherwell – transporting goods and building materials.
His shack is in a newly opened area and I have watched with interest how the different occupiers build – some with traditional wood and iron, some with galvanised roofing sheets, some with wood only, some with ash brick…
All have different approaches – some have established gardens: ornamental and practical; some have made a statement: double storey, incredible entrances from upmarket garage doors; some with manicured lawns; some with solar panels; some with a tiny home on a large plot and some with a number of old caravans as dwelling units.
Services
Over the months wooden electricity poles carrying electrical conductors have gone up alongside the dusty streets. The providers of this service have a terrible job just trying to keep up with the growth in this area and it shows: poles are skew, not aligned, cables hang at different heights with different lengths hanging down and the frustration from residents is there as they wait for the electricity connection and prepaid meter to be installed.
Of course, asking around, one is told that the prepaid meters are treated by one and all as novelty item that is soon confined to the scrap heap as the izinyoka peddle their ‘services’ to every single shack.
Theft
And what I saw yesterday most certainly compounds the problem – the izinyoka have responded to ‘market forces’ and started running their own cables on the wooden poles already erected. Owners are frustrated at the slow progress to install that ‘last mile’ of cable and a prepaid meter so have decided that ‘early theft’ is the only way.
Class A Liars
Most of the people moving into this shack area are ‘from the farm’ so immediately one thinks that they have chosen to come to a better place – I want to meet the person who marketed these conditions as a ‘better place’ – our world needs more Class A liars!
FBE
Eskom has a legislated responsibility to provide Free Basic Electricity (FBE) and, nationally, FBE registrations were at 568 375 customers on 20 February 2026.
Qualifying indigent households in South Africa generally receive 50 kWh of Free Basic Electricity (FBE) per month. While this is the standard, the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality provides 50 kWh of electricity to each. You must be registered on your local municipality’s “indigent register” to receive this benefit, as Eskom does not automatically grant it to all households.
In effect the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, through it’s own clients, provides an additional 25 kWh’s of electricity to each registered indigent household.
According the the Nelson Mandela Bay 2022/23 Annual Report, 35.85 MWh of free basic electricity (FBE) was provided to indigent households.
During this period under review approximately 9,10% of total residential electricity provision was allocated as Free Basic Electricity (FBE).
During the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023 free basic electricity was provided to a total of 33 818 registered and qualifying NMBM customers, which is a decrease in the number of qualifying customers from the previous year.
In the same period the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality recorded that there are 366 341 households in NMB and that 45 612 of those are classified as ATTP (Assistance To The Poor) households. What the numbers don’t reflect are the numbers of shacks and backyard dwellings in our city.
The city’s FBE target is 25% of households which would translate to 91 585 households receiving FBE.
Woe betide anyone who asks a simple question; “How much does Eskom charge my municipality for electricity?” One would think that life would be much simpler if the answer was X number of cents per kilowatt. But the answer is not easy as that number depends on the municipalities distance from Eskom, the time of use (peak, standard, off peak), the requirement – indigent, lighting, industry; the amount consumed etc.
Good luck to anyone trying to work out and budget what electricity will costs when these factors range from R1.12 to R8.30 per kWh. By the way R1.12 is almost DOUBLE the amount you will pay per kWh should you have installed a Solar System.
Herein Lies the Rub:
The municipality says that the Free Basic Electricity does not have an impact on losses as the sale of electricity is recovered through the equitable share.
To which there are a number of questions:
- Who pays for the additional 25 kWh’s per month?
- What happens when the equitable share is held back from National Treasury?
- Do all 33 000 odd registered indigent households have live and active prepaid meters?
- Where does the money for the arguably crappy infrastructure come from?
Water: Indigent households are entitled to 6 kl of free water per household per month. I am told that the municipality sends a water tanker to this Motherwell shack area on a daily basis.
Have Pity on Eskom
What we are doing here – by virtue of poor administration and management of the rollout of free electricity – Eskom is placed under further strain. Occupiers become frustrated and run their own illegal cables, prepaid meters are bypassed, children are shocked to death and the strain on transformers increases exponentially, leading to widespread power cuts when they blow, trip or trip further up the line.
Dignity
Every time I drive into Motherwell shack area I remember back to the time when Motherwell was first established. As a young school going man I remember accompanying my late father and two of his employees to the Motherwell Show Village. Prospective owners could plot and plan their homes.
What grabs me with despair is that those homes are still standing whilst the RDP homes around them are collapsing – could this be because we have two sets of SANS rules for RDP and ‘normal’ home construction?
An even greater despair is that our government actively ‘allows’ our people to live in such squalor – no sanitation, no running water, no refuse removal, no DIGNITY.
BUT, the residents do seem to be proud of their street as they gave erected colourful sings and flowers alongside both sides of the entrance and on the opposite side of the road to Kariega.
The actual residents shacks are clear of rubbish and plastic flowers BUT the open area on the other side of the Kariega road is festooned with ‘plastic flowers’ and the detritus of modern man.
It’s a Mess
Drive through any township and you will see homes right on the perimeter, backyard shacks, really dodgy looking construction and cables everywhere.
Can you imagine the revolt from these voters should any local government decide that it is time to actually enforce their own by-laws in the townships?
Maybe the way to ‘encourage’ local government is with the simple truth; “Formalise the plans and register the backyard dwellings – the additional rates revenue will more than compensate and contribute to the very real concern that we all have that there are still different rules for different folk.”
