Fifty-five Masonwabe households in Gugulethu are being connected to formal electricity as Cape Town expands safer energy access while creating local work opportunities for local residents.
The City of Cape Town is continuing its electrification programme in the Masonwabe informal settlement, with an R883 735 project currently connecting 55 households to the electricity grid.
The project represents more than an infrastructure upgrade. Formal electricity access can improve household safety, reduce dependence on dangerous informal connections and give families greater certainty around an essential service used for lighting, cooking, communication and everyday household needs.
Teams have already installed electricity poles that will carry overhead aerial bundle cables. The technology provides an alternative to traditional copper cabling, which remains vulnerable to theft and vandalism, while also improving the reliability of electricity supply.
Homes are also receiving pre-assembled wall-mounted electrical distribution boards incorporating a light, multiple electrical sockets and USB connections.
For residents who have waited for formal electricity, the intervention provides another level of inclusion in the City’s service infrastructure.
“Having spoken with some members of this community, I was moved by their excitement as they will have the dignity of accessing formal electricity,” said City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Energy, Alderman Xanthea Limberg.
Households that qualify will also be able to access the City’s subsidised lifeline electricity tariff, which includes up to 60 units of Free Basic Electricity.
Limberg said residents who have already been connected described how the subsidised tariff was helping them manage household expenses amid rising electricity costs.
The project is also creating economic opportunities within the community.
Seven Expanded Public Works Programme work opportunities have been created specifically for Masonwabe residents, ensuring that people living in the settlement participate directly in the infrastructure development taking place around them.
The employment component gives the project a wider social-impact dimension by combining service delivery with short-term income opportunities, skills exposure and greater community ownership of infrastructure.
“I would like to thank this community, which waited patiently for this project and cooperated with the City from the initial consultation and design phases until we started implementation,” Limberg said.
The electrification of informal settlements remains complex because projects depend on factors including land ownership, settlement layouts, service arrangements and whether infrastructure can safely and legally be installed.
The City therefore prioritises areas where those conditions make formal electrification possible.
For qualifying communities, the benefits can extend beyond simply switching on a light.
Reliable electricity can support studying after dark, charging mobile devices, running household appliances and reducing some of the safety risks associated with makeshift electrical connections and alternative energy sources.
“We owe a great deal of gratitude to the City’s Energy teams, who continue to positively impact lives by unlocking opportunities that come with formal electricity access,” Limberg said.
“For us at the City, electrification is about more than providing electricity. It is about improving residents’ quality of life, making communities safer and ensuring households can access reliable services.”
The Masonwabe project demonstrates how basic infrastructure investment can create several layers of social value at once: improving access to essential services, strengthening household safety, reducing energy vulnerability and creating employment within the community receiving the investment.
Residents can report streetlight and electricity faults to the City’s call centre on 0860 103 089, via SMS on 31220 or WhatsApp on 060 018 1505. Suspicious activity involving electricity infrastructure can be reported to the Public Emergency Communication Centre on 021 480 7700.
