READER LETTER | Eskom gave people enough time to renew meter boxes

We, South Africans, have mastered the art of blame games. When our government fails to deliver, our politicians blame colonialism and apartheid.

 Last year in August, Eskom announced that all prepaid meter boxes should be upgraded free of charge at Eskom. Eskom has given people ample time to upgrade their prepaid meter boxes. However, people elected not to do it until it is late. Eskom and the government are being blamed of not communicating this matter time and time again.

However, the responsibility remains with individuals to do what they were requested to do on time. Blaming games will not take us anywhere. It is high time that people stop blaming Eskom and the government of their own ignorance. Some people dismissed the announcement by Eskom as nonsense and unreasonable. Some people were willing to upgrade their prepaid meter boxes but were intimidated by faceless people in their communities. I suspect those who intimidated people not to upgrade their prepaid meter boxes are the ones whose prepaid meters are bypassed. This was deliberately done to create chaos like we see today.

Some people are threatening to continue to connect electricity illegally because they don't have jobs. Some of these people who claim to not have jobs stay in big houses and drive expensive cars. There is no use blaming Eskom and the government for doing the right thing. Now it has dawned to people that Eskom was serious about the upgrading of prepaid meter boxes. Even if Eskom had given people five years starting from last year August, people would still fail to meet the deadline.

I am afraid that we South Africans have a tendency of not wanting to do the right thing on time. Perhaps we have learnt this from our politicians who blame colonialism and apartheid when they fail to fulfill their promises. Upgrading prepaid meter boxes is free of charge. Mahala! But people want to do it the hard way.

Lyborn Rikhotso, Giyani