A couple, grieving after the recent loss of their baby, was further traumatized by the unexpected ripping out of their metre box by the Makhado (Louis Trichardt) meter readers to cut their electricity supply.

The box was ripped out even though they had received no warning letter and they regularly pay their water and electricity bill.

Mr Franswa Coetzer and his wife Liza experienced the power cut on Tuesday at 12:50. “I supposed that everyone’s electricity was off, but when I checked our meter box in Hlanganani Street, the circuit breaker had been taken out and the wires left open. My first thought was that I didn’t want anyone else to go through what we had had to go through. School children love to tamper with the open meter boxes. What could happen if they tampered with these live wires?” Coetzer asked

Coetzer said that he seldom received a municipal account from the Makhado Municipality. “We pay an estimated amount, somewhere between R2 500 and R3 500. If I were in arrears, I should have received a warning letter in my post box. I paid today, but it is nowhere near the 7th of the month. Why should they rip out the circuit breaker and endanger lives?” He produced a printout from his bank, showing that he had paid R2 500 on 4 March. Once at the municipality, Coetzer discovered that he was unwittingly R1 005 in arrears, which he promptly paid.

The answer of the Makhado Municipality to the whole dangerous situation, as well as the fact that no warning had been issued and there was still time to pay, was that they supposed that a small mistake had come in somewhere.

Though small comfort in their time of grief, the couple was thankful that their electricity supply had been restored by 16:50.