By Staff Reporter
KGWEKGWE VILLAGE— Residents of Kgwekgwe Village in Bolobedu South say they were forced to celebrate Christmas in darkness and now fear they will cross over into the new year without electricity, following the collapse of a transformer pole on 19 December 2025.
The incident left the transformer lying on the ground unattended for several days, plunging the village into a power outage that has now entered its second week, with no visible progress made toward restoring electricity.
Residents say the prolonged blackout has severely disrupted daily life. Families have been forced to cook using firewood, while others walk long distances to neighboring parts of the village just to charge their mobile phones.
The lack of electricity has also resulted in food losses, with many households reporting that their festive groceries spoiled before time.
Community members have expressed frustration after being assured by their ward councillor that power would be restored. Despite these promises, residents say no changes have been seen to date, leaving them feeling neglected and helpless.
A 35-year-old resident, Pontsho Ernest Mailula, said he contacted the Ward 09 councillor, Maenetja, of the Greater Tzaneen Municipality the day after the transformer collapsed.
According to Mailula, the councillor promised a speedy response and confirmed that Eskom had been contacted, but no solution has been implemented so far.
“Our festive groceries got spoiled before time because of no electricity,” residents said, adding that the outage has turned what should have been a joyful festive season into a period of hardship.
“For the first time, we celebrated Christmas without electricity,” said Mailula. “Now our biggest fear is to welcome the New Year in darkness.”
The community is now appealing to the Greater Tzaneen Municipality and Eskom to urgently intervene and restore power, warning that continued delays are deepening frustration and placing additional strain on already struggling households.
