City of Tshwane Cuts Electricity From Residents Living in Affluent Golf Estate That Owe R16 Million

• The City of Tshwane disconnected the electricity of more than 400 homes in the Copperleaf Golf Estate
• The city implemented its “amnesty project” to recover its debt from unpaid electricity bills and illegal connections
• Copperleaf Country Estate said it does not owe money to the city but it was rather some homeowners

PRETORIA - More than 400 homes at the Copperleaf Golf Estate had their electricity disconnected to recover the R16 million debt in the City of Tshwane. The municipality has implemented its “amnesty project” to recover debt from unpaid electricity bills and illegal connections.

Several houses on the golf estate bypassed their electricity meters. City Spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said inspectors would be visiting various areas in the municipality to end illegal connections. He said the city is not targeting affluent areas but is also clamping down on townships.

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Taking to Twitter, the estate distanced itself from those implicated. In the post, Copperleaf Country Estate said it does not owe money to the City of Tshwane. However, some individual homeowners at Copperleaf are indebted to the municipality in their personal capacity.

In the post, the estate said every household is connected independently to the city. It added that Copperleaf pays for the electricity for common areas such as the Clubhouse, golf course, parks, and irrigation.

However, the estate claims that 98 properties were disconnected due to households owing the municipality. It also stated that there were no illegal connections at the estate.

Mashigo told News24 that the debt from residents at the estate was significant compared to other areas.

The municipality continues to make payments to Eskom to settle its debt with the power utility. However, Mashigo said to pay the account, non-payers and customers must pay for the services rendered.

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South Africans react to the electricity cuts:

Amanda Wiggill Nel said:

“Why do they wait so long to cut power? That’s a lot of money.”

Mark Whitehead commented:

“Wow. Quite sad. That these affluent residents are bypassing meters to benefit themselves.”

Nceba Lucky Mzanywa added:

“The state of the economy is bad. Everyone rich or poor is feeling the pinch.”

Eskom recovered 30 million rands that was illegally paid out to their former CEO Brian Molefe’s pension fund

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported electricity company Eskom announced it has recovered R30 million rand illegally paid to former CEO Brian Molefe’s pension fund in 2016.

This follows a decision by the North Gauteng High Court in July, which ruled that Molefe had to repay part of the pension already paid out to him of about rand R10 million, and the remainder was paid out by the pension fund.

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According to Tech Central, Bloomberg News reported that Molefe, who joined Eskom in April 2015, was accused of favouring the Gupta family by handing a coal supply contract to President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane Zuma, and helping him to buy Optimum Coal.

Source: Briefly News