Dozens of people from affected villages helped officials for several days to erect fallen electricity pylons

On Saturday, after nine days without electricity, power was finally restored in an eastern part of the Free State. This was thanks to about a hundred residents helping the Maluti-a-Phofung local municipality erect electricity pylons that had toppled in strong winds.

Residents from Monotsha, Makgalaneng, Tseki, Paballong, Mabolela and Mahankeng had been without power since Friday 25 October after main line poles at Paballong village came down.

Villagers, mostly men, put their shoulders to the wheel on Wednesday last week and worked all Thursday in the baking sun and into the night until it was too dark to work.

Women from the villages brought them juice and bread donated by immigrant spaza shop owners in the affected areas.

The area where the poles came down is steep and rocky and was inaccessible for the municipal crane. So the villagers, working with officials, hoisted the poles with brute strength. On the first day they got the poles up, but these came down again as they were too tall and unstable. The poles were then shortened.

Lefu Mofokeng, one of the men helping, said, "It was not an easy job but we have to sweat because we needed electricity."

"I spent the whole day in the sun and we did not have time to go home and eat. So the women in the community went out to ask for food from the local shops and they gave them bread and juice. I wish we could work like that every time we have a problem," he said.

Municipality spokesperson Thabo Kessah said, "We appreciate efforts by the residents in helping ease the burden of service delivery. Government alone cannot do this and it needs all of us to have hands on the deck and work together. This also translates into buying electricity and paying for services so that the quality of services can improve."