Frustration over electricity shortages leads to clinic fire in Khayelitsha

Tensions flared in the Marikana informal settlement in Khayelitsha this week as frustrated residents set part of a local clinic alight, allegedly in protest over the ongoing lack of electricity.

The incident has left the clinic partially damaged and healthcare services disrupted for hundreds of people in the community.

Resident Nolubabalo Sidyoko said the unrest was triggered on Monday night, September 22, when police officers intervened and confiscated electrical cables residents were using to illegally connect to an Eskom transformer near the clinic.

“The cables are expensive, and we just want them back. That’s what angered people,” said Ms Sidyoko.

She explained that residents had previously been connected to a different transformer, which had failed due to overloading. For years, Marikana has remained without formal electricity connections, forcing residents to rely on unsafe, illegal connections.

“We’ve lived here for ten years, while other areas around us have electricity,” Ms Sidyoko said.

“Our pleas to the City of Cape Town have fallen on deaf ears. We've been promised electricity many times, but nothing has happened.”

She stressed that the community did not intend to damage the clinic, but reacted out of frustration following the confiscation of their cables.

“We want service delivery - that’s all. The clinic wasn’t our target. People just reacted after the cables were taken,” she said.

The City of Cape Town’s health department confirmed that protesters set fire to part of the Town Two clinic late on Monday. According to officials, the external waste storage room was completely gutted in the blaze, though the main clinic building remains intact.

Protesters also damaged the clinic’s motorised vehicle gate to gain access to the premises and vandalised an Eskom transformer, leaving the clinic without electricity. Unrest continued into Tuesday night, September 23, with tyres set alight outside the facility.

.Despite the disruption, the city’s health department resumed limited services at the clinic on Thursday, September 25. 

“The attack on the clinic must be condemned. There is no justification for damaging community assets in this manner,” a City spokesperson said. “We call on anyone with information about those responsible to contact the South African Police Service.”

The South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) has also condemned the incident. Town Two SANCO chairperson, Lubabalo Msuthu, said while the organisation sympathises with the community’s frustration over the lack of services, violence and destruction cannot be condoned.

“We understand the anger over electricity, but there are better ways to raise those concerns,” Mr Msuthu said. “It makes no sense to destroy or burn down a crucial community service like a clinic, which has nothing to do with electricity delivery.”

He added that the clinic may have been targeted simply because of its proximity to the transformer, but insisted the action was misdirected.

“We understand the concerns, but we do not agree with the actions taken at all,” he said