GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — 'Cutting off electricity will be discrimination.'
This is what Cllr Eldrige Ruiters claims in a request in December for a Motion of Exigency to be placed on the agenda of a Council meeting to discuss the fact that, if those defaulting on service payments have their electricity cut off, not all residents will be affected equally.
This is because those buying electricity directly from Eskom cannot be cut off by the municipality.
When the municipality issued a notice on January 31 to say that, “As from February 1, 2018, the Municipality will be disconnecting services of consumers who are in arrears with their municipal accounts”, Cllr Samantha Graham, DA Caucus Leader for the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality, was incensed.
“If a Municipality wants to impose penalties on its residents for non-payment of services, it must make absolutely sure that those penalties are applied fairly and uniformly across the Municipal area,” said Cllr Graham. “To only penalise some consumers and not others, is completely unacceptable. And that is exactly what is being done in the Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality”.
It is well known that the Dr Beyers Naudé Local Municipality is in a financial crisis, with cash reserves at a dangerously low level and collection rates falling woefully short of projected targets.
Cllr Graham explained that one of the biggest contributing factors to this crisis is the non-payment of services by residents, government departments, businesses and municipal officials and councillors.
“Businesses owe an incredible R11 million to the Municipality for services, while National Departments are in arrears to the tune of R4 million. The bulk of outstanding monies, however, is from residents who have received, and not paid for, a staggering R8 8million worth of services. This Municipality cannot continue to function if services are not being paid for,” said Cllr Graham.
“Cllr Ruiters’ motion made reference to the fact that any disconnection of services to Municipal electricity consumers would be tantamount to unfair discrimination, as only some of our consumers would be affected by this action,” continued Cllr Graham. “It is a Constitutional imperative that any action that would prejudice people should be of general application and not only applicable to certain individuals. In light of this, a decision to block the electricity of only Municipal consumers is unfair and prejudicial”.
Cllr Graham referred to the fact that the Speaker of the Municipality, Cllr Thembisa Nonnies, refused to allow the matter to be placed on the agenda, despite it being an issue of public interest.
She concluded her statement: “The Democratic Alliance urges the Municipality to refrain from cutting off services to some of our residents and to urgently go back to the drawing board with respect to how to recover monies from consumers that will not prejudice some and benefit others. In the meantime, pressure must be brought to bear on businesses and government departments to settle their accounts. Councillors and Municipal Officials should not be granted any leniency in respect of monies owing to the Municipality. And Council should find a fair and equitable solution to addressing the outstanding residential debt.”
According to Cllr Eldan Carolus, the Mayor Cllr Deon de Vos promised on various occasions, in Council and at Mayoral outreach public meetings, that electricity to individual households will not be cut, but the municipality will concentrate on pursuing businesses and state departments which owe exorbitant amounts to the municipality.
Members of all sections of the community are angry about this, as it is seen as unfair practices.
In Graaff-Reinet, Umasizakhe consumers buy their electricity directly from Eskom, whereas other areas are supplied by the municipality. Thus Umasizakhe consumers cannot be cut off, according to the new ruling.
In Aberdeen, the majority of Lotusville, except for Hagenheim, is on Eskom power, with Thembalesizwe and the town buying electricity from the municipality.
'We bring you the latest Graaff-Reinet, Karoo news'
