{
  "id": 15704034,
  "title": "Elections 2026 | Meriting families demand electricity after deadly illegal connections",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/elections-2026-meriting-families-demand-electricity-after-deadly",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-20T05:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Health-e News",
    "slug": "health-e-news",
    "url": "https://health-e.org.za/2026/10/20/elections-2026-meriting-families-demand-electricity-after-deadly-illegal-connections/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In Meriting, an informal settlement in Gauteng, families are demanding electricity following a series of deaths caused by illegal connections. Suffering immense grief, 64-year-old Josephine Nyama lost her brother and then her three-year-old granddaughter to electrocution. Her brother, Steven Nyama, was found dead on live wires in January, while her granddaughter was rescued from a fence with a live wire attached to an illegal connection in May. Meriting Phase 2 has been without electricity since its establishment in 2017, with residents resorting to illegal connections due to the high cost of candles and paraffin. Community leader Tibi Kotedi states that nine lives have been lost this year due to such connections, including five children. Residents have been promised electricity by various administrations but remain without a formal supply for nearly a decade. City Power acknowledges the illegal connections' safety risks, yet states that formal electricity supply cannot begin until the Department of Human Settlements determines the land's status and eligibility for the Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme.",
  "summary": "Health-e News Elections 2026 | Meriting families demand electricity after deadly illegal connections 64-year-old Josephine Nyama says when she received a call from neighbours at 6am on New Year’s Day, she heard the shocking news that her brother had been found dead on live wires used for illegal electricity connections in Meriting, Lenasia South, in Gauteng. “I was shaking, I lost my thinking for…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "AllAfrica Health",
        "title": "South Africa: Elections 2026 - Meriting Families Demand Electricity After Deadly Illegal Connections",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/20/south-africa-elections-2026-meriting-families-demand-electricity",
        "published": "2026-10-20T07:42:36.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}