By: Lonwabo Mtyeku – Community Newsroom Pictures: Sourced
Pretoria – While homes across the capital glow with festive lights and the warmth of family gatherings, thousands of Pretoria residents are marking Christmas in darkness — cooking on gas stoves, bathing with boiled water and watching the holiday season pass them by without electricity.
Prolonged power outages in parts of Tshwane have left communities frustrated, financially strained and emotionally exhausted, as households struggle to maintain dignity during what is meant to be a time of celebration and rest.
A Silent Crisis in the Capital
From Soshanguve and Atteridgeville to parts of Mamelodi, Ga-Rankuwa and Hammanskraal, residents report days — and in some cases weeks — without stable power supply. Faults, cable theft, vandalism and aging infrastructure have compounded the crisis, pushing already stretched communities into deeper hardship.
For many families, Christmas lunch was prepared on open flames or small gas burners. Refrigerators sat useless, with food spoiling and medicines requiring cold storage becoming unsafe. Children went to bed without television, music or the simple joy of festive lights.
“We had meat in the freezer that we had to throw away,” said one Hammanskraal resident. “You save all year for Christmas, and in one week everything is gone.”
Economic and Emotional Toll
Small businesses have also taken severe strain. Spaza shops, salons and informal traders reliant on refrigeration and power tools have been forced to close or operate at reduced capacity — at a time when festive trade is supposed to carry them through the lean months of the new year.
For elderly residents and families with infants, the situation has been particularly harsh. Without electricity, access to warm water, medical equipment and essential communication has become unreliable.
The emotional cost is equally heavy. Residents describe feelings of neglect, anger and abandonment — a growing belief that their suffering has become normalised.
“It feels like we don’t matter,” said a resident of Ga-Rankuwa. “Every year it gets worse, and every year we are told it will be fixed.”
Infrastructure Under Pressure
Tshwane officials have acknowledged that aging networks, vandalism and copper cable theft continue to destabilise the city’s electricity grid. The municipality has repeatedly appealed for patience while technicians work to restore supply, but residents argue that outages have become too frequent and too prolonged to be considered exceptional.
Energy analysts warn that unless large-scale investment and infrastructure modernisation are urgently prioritised, Tshwane’s power challenges could deepen, particularly as demand rises during heatwaves and holiday periods.
A Christmas Without Comfort
For families affected, the festive season has become a reminder not of joy, but of vulnerability — a time spent improvising meals, rationing candles and hoping that electricity will return before food spoils or school resumes.
As South Africa reflects on inequality and service delivery, Pretoria’s darkened homes tell a quieter but powerful story: that dignity, safety and celebration depend not on luxury, but on reliable access to basic services.
For now, many residents remain in waiting — waiting for light, for answers, and for a city that remembers them even when the celebrations end.
