Residents of the Ngafani district, in the commune of Selembao in Kinshasa, are facing a worrying situation: increased power cuts despite the use of a prepaid system for electricity. Despite their prepaid electricity purchases, they find themselves without electricity for long periods.
According to testimonies collected by Radio Okapi, the electricity is cut off early in the morning and restored only late at night. An angry resident denounces this situation and explains that she has already spent 10 dollars to buy electricity, the equivalent of 25,000 FC, but without really benefiting from it.
This observation is all the more frustrating since the prepaid system should normally guarantee the availability of power when units are purchased. But in the Ngafani district, it has become usual to experience constant power cuts, depriving residents of access to electricity and even preventing them from ironing their clothes.
In addition to this difficult situation, residents of Selembao also face difficulties in purchasing prepaid electricity. Indeed, there are no sales booths in the area, which forces residents to go to town to obtain electricity. This situation is seen as a real scam by the inhabitants of Ngafani, who plan to demonstrate to demand their rights.
The response from the authorities of the National Electricity Company (SNEL) is awaited, but residents say that if the situation does not improve quickly, they will not hesitate to mobilize to assert their rights.
It is therefore urgent that the SNEL authorities take measures to resolve this problem and guarantee the residents of Ngafani access to stable and reliable electricity. Frequent outages cause real inconvenience and harm the daily lives of residents, who pay for a service to which they do not have access.
This situation also highlights the need to strengthen electrical infrastructure in certain regions of Kinshasa in order to avoid these load shedding and provide quality service to all residents.
We hope that the authorities will quickly respond to the grievances of the residents of Ngafani and take concrete measures to resolve this recurring problem. Access to electricity is a fundamental right and it is essential to ensure that all citizens benefit from it in optimal conditions.