More than 200 Soweto residents gathered at Kopanong Community Hall on Tuesday afternoon to hear what Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi had planned to solve the electricity crisis.

"We don't like what we wake up to every day, but we are failed by our public servants. Can you please hear us?" said Andile Kunene, who has lived in Dobsonville, Soweto his whole life.

Soweto residents -- some who haven't had electricity for more than a week, others for more than a month -- gathered at Kopanong Community Hall in Dobsonville on Tuesday, 14 November, anxious to get the chance to hear from and speak to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi about their ongoing problems with electricity.

By 2pm, when the meeting was meant to begin, the hall was full, and more than 100 residents had to sit and stand outside and listen through speakers.

An hour after the scheduled start of the meeting, the premier's adviser, Mxolisi Xayiya, and the head of customer relations at Eskom, Henry Thulani Mtshali, addressed the residents.

Premier Lesufi arrived an hour after that, having apparently been caught up in an emergency meeting.

After listening to the officials, several residents lined up in front of a microphone to have their say.

Residents' woes

Warona Sekonyela from Dobsonville Extension 4, who hasn't had power for more than a month and a half, was first in...