Africa-Press – South-Africa. One of the worst performing police stations in the country, a home affairs office, and a school had their electricity cut in a sweeping disconnection campaign by the Msunduzi Municipality in Pietermaritzburg.
Leading the charge to clamp down on those in arrears is acting city manager Nelisiwe Ngcobo, who has been on the warpath.
Ramaphosa’s 10-point power crisis plan: What you need to know
Ngcobo gave the green light for power to be cut to the local home affairs offices, Plessislaer police station and even schools, as part of the municipality’s “Operation Qoqama-Million”.
The municipality describes the drive as “an endeavour to enforce its credit control and debt collection policies to collect the outstanding debt from its consumers”.
The operation is intended to ensure consumers whose municipal accounts are in arrears have their services disconnected.
Eskom threatens to cut Tshwane’s power supply in tussle over R1.6bn bill
The campaign seeks to prioritise ratepayers who owe the city for services.
The municipality was owed around R1.2 billion in rates, said Ngcobo.
‘Respectful, decent and fair’
Referring to the clampdown on government departments, Ngcobo said the municipality was “respectful, decent and fair” in their collections.
“Loss of revenue is also incurred through non-payment by government departments. The total outstanding debt is sitting at R5.5 billion. This is not a sustainable financial situation. The teams are therefore going around the length and breadth of the municipality, disconnecting services in compliance with the municipality’s credit control and debt collection policy,” she said.
She added:
She said teams were also monitoring disconnected services and whether customers illegally reconnected supply.
“If this happens, the municipality will charge the customer a tamper fee and disconnect the services again.”
Ngcobo called on government departments to pay their bills.
“We are urging all government departments to ensure that their bills are updated because we are not prepared to negotiate once we arrive. We wish to warn all consumers that the municipality is also preparing to implement load reduction in townships,” she said.
The impact on Home Affairs
Xolani Maphumulo, a senior official at the home affairs offices in Pietermaritzburg, said they were cut off on Friday after their landlord failed to pay the rates bill.
Power was illegally reconnected on Monday, and Ngcobo and her team were forced to disconnect the building for a second time.
Maphumulo said:
He added that it was the responsibility of the landlord to supply electricity and water in the building.
“If there is anyone who needs to sort this out, it is the landlord. We are just the tenants finding ourselves without electricity since Friday. We came back on Monday without electricity, only the municipality says there is non-payment. We have fulfilled our obligations and paid our bills.
“The issue is with the landlord and, unfortunately, it is affecting the building that we are in. It is affecting our [service] delivery because we are using a generator to power one part of the office and using a mobile truck. It is not ideal, but it is getting the job done for now.”
One of the disconnected public entities is Plessislaer police station, which ranks among the worst performing police precincts in the country. The police station allegedly owes the municipality around R3 million.
Plessislaer police station is one of the five police stations with the highest number of murder cases in the country.
Police did not respond to News24’s request for comment on the disconnection.
Power supply to Raisethorpe Secondary School has also been disconnected as matric pupils sit for trial examinations on Tuesday. Insiders said the school would use a generator and tank water to ensure pupils can continue with their exams.
In a letter addressed to Ngcobo, seen by News24, the acting head of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Public Works Sboniso Majola called on the municipality to reconnect electricity, vowing to make payment on outstanding accounts for public facilities by 30 September.
He said the disconnections had a negative impact on service delivery in the city.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
