Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Church of Scientology in Randburg owes R2.2 million in electricity bills, plus penalties.
This is according to City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena, who said they had cut the church’s electricity off on Friday.
“It’s always sad when the house of God doesn’t preach the truth,” he said.
“There was no mistake in our disconnection of the church. The account is in arrears and remains in arrears, even after they paid some deposit over the weekend.
“When we go to a customer like the church, we go there after extensive processes, including writing several letters warning them to pay up, and pre-termination notices. We disconnect as a last resort.”
According to Mangena, the church had approached a community media house to speak about City Power cutting off their electricity. He added that the church had claimed that City Power had soon restored their power after realising that they had made a “mistake”.
The media house then got hold of Mangena to confirm the allegations being made by the church.
“I got a call from the media house telling me that City Power is apparently cutting off people’s power for nothing, and asked for my comment,” he told News24.
“I asked which people she was referring to, and she said the church.”
Mangena said the church had pleaded with City Power to reconnect its power.
However, the utility had refused, advising them to pay a portion of the money they owed first.
Church of Scientology spokesperson Sandile Hlayisi was unclear about how much, if any, the church owed to City Power.
Instead, he said that the church and City Power were on good terms and that there had been communication between them following the cut-off.
He said that when the church’s power had been cut off, City Power had given them “level 2 disconnection cards”, which meant that there was an illegal electricity connection – something he denied profusely.
According to Hlayisi, the church was not fighting with City Power and would “in good faith” pay what was being demanded.
“I understand the pressure City Power is under,” he said, adding that power cuts were necessary, but only for those who were illegally connected.
City Power restored the electricity the following day.
According to Mangena, the church had agreed to pay City Power R500 000 as their first installment.
“Should the church default on its promise to pay the rest of the money, City Power won’t hesitate to cut them off,” he added.
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