Gautrain Refutes R10m City of Tshwane Water and Lights Bill, Threatens Court Action

• Gautrain insists it does not owe the City of Tshwane any monies following the municipality's move to cut the company's water and electricity supply
• The incident happened on Tuesday after officials from the City arrived at the Hatfield station intent on disrupting normal programming
• South Africans had mixed reactions to the City's latest round of disconnections, with others questioning the validity of some of Gautrain's claims

HATFIELD - Gautrain services were nearly brought to a grinding halt on Tuesday as the City of Tshwane continued its rampant charge on customers that are behind on bill payments.

The City's no-nonsense stance comes in the face of a staggering bill of no less than R17 billion owed by residents, businesses, the government and even foreign embassies.

Sticking to their guns, municipality officials descended on the Hatfield station to remind the company of an amount of R10 million that is reportedly outstanding on their water and lights account, TimesLIVE reported.

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"Without giving us so much as a notice, the City disconnected the water and electricity supply to the station. The municipality is claiming it was owed [millions] for services," said Gautrain spokesperson Kesagee Nayager.

Nayager said the Hatfield station functions on a prepaid electricity meter, quashing the rhetoric the company was in arrears. She noted the meter had a surplus of approximately R120 000 at the time the lights were cut.

"We've tried relentlessly to acquire proof of the deficit we have on our municipal account. On Monday night, we received information from a senior official at the municipality which shows an account number that differs from the one reflected on its termination of services notice.

IOL reported that Gautrain insisted the discontinuation of running water and electricity was anything but legal. The company added it will head to court to obtain an urgent interdict instructing the City to reinstate services.

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SA all sorts on City's campign

South Africans' reaction on social media was loud and forceful. A colourful array of comments were shared as some people expressed their support for the City. Briefly News takes a look at a few of the comments below.

@Victor Vivica Mahlangu wrote:

"Hewena Gautrain we are not playing here,... pay mann!! What's your story?? Expensive train for kaak njeee. Always hyper-expensive nama "Slay Queens" walking like they own the world when boarding your train. Betaal Gautrain Betaal."

@Thabang Makua said:

"Maybe Nayager was told that but that's not what is on paper there's no way Tshwane will just cut without following due procedures."

@Ofentse Sp Noah added:

"Funny enough Tshwane municipality seems to have deleted the tweet from earlier today."

SANDF faces R3.2 million municipal bill

Elsewhere, Briefly News previously reported that an unpaid property rates bill running into nearly R3.2 million has spurred the City of Tshwane into action as it moved to cut electricity at the navy offices belonging to the army on Wednesday last week.

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Municipal officials arrived at the South African National Defence Force-leased (SANDF) building before confirming it was owed a total amount of R3 197 428.81. The City announced the move in a Twitter post, citing:

"When we say 'no fear, no favour', we mean it. We are at the SANDF Navy headquarters to cut [the] electricity."

TimesLIVE reported that SANDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Andries Mahapa, in a short comment, said he was unaware that the City planned to cut off the building's electricity.

Source: Briefly News