A new kind of power struggle

Municipalities in South Africa are bracing themselves for the start of a scheme to provide poor families with free electricity. The programme will fulfil a promise that President Thabo Mbeki made before last December's local-government elections, but many households in black areas already receive free electricity - by stealing it.

Sophisticates in the dormitory townships bequeathed by apartheid have become adept at illegally connecting to the grid and diverting power to their homes and those of their friends. They are usually the most daring of the township residents, and are seldom drawn from the poorest strata of black society.

It is difficult to say how many households are powered by stolen electricity, but there are rough indicators. Roy Kerr of Project Viability, an organisation that works with South African's department of local government to help make municipalities financially viable, says he sees illegal cables running into townships." from junction boxes owned by Eskom, the state electricity company.

The records of Johannesburg Water, which is responsible for supplying supply water to Greater Johannesburg, including Soweto, the country's largest township, show that illegal connections to water pipes each year cost the utility 25 million rand, or almost £3million, in lost revenues.

Judging by Eskom's calculations, many more households receive free water by the simple method of not paying their bills. It says Soweto residents now owe 742 million rand, or almost £85 million.

There is another problem on the horizon. As the government never tires of reiterating, the scheme will depend on those who use more than their 50 kilowatt-hours of free electricity each month paying their bills promptly and regularly.

But many households that have tapped into Eskom supply points, or ignored their bills, consume more than the free quota, and if the authorities clamp down they'll find themselves being billed for the excess.

Those bills are likely to be high, because the scheme uses a sliding scale: many of those who use more than their quota will have to pay a new, higher rate that Eskom is introducing to help finance the programme.

The formation of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee is a sign of rising tension. Its primary purpose is to organise resistance to moves by Eskom to cut off households that have not paid their bills or are illegally connected.

The use of the phrase "crisis committee" is significant. It is reminiscent of the "crisis committees" that emerged during resistance to apartheid in the 1980s" to invest their struggle with the mystique of the fight against white domination.

If their resistance succeeds, local municipalities will be deprived of much-needed revenue, but a significant proportion of the cost will be borne by the 40 per cent of South Africans who live in houses without electricity. Plans to electrify their homes depend on those who receive a supply paying for it.