LOLO MAPHOPHE
THE community of the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality in Mpumalanga is up in arms over tariff increases on electricity service charges that were introduced in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic. In response, residents formed the Graskop Community Committee and signed a petition urging the TCLM to scrap the electricity tariff increases with immediate effect.
The charges were introduced in July to reduce an existing R750 million Eskom bill which is now being passed on to resident to settle.
Allegedly, Eskom is threatening to switch off the lights should the municipality fail to pay up.
The petition has three main demands which residents want TLCM Executive Mayor Fridah Nkadimeng to address.
These include the suspension of electricity service charges of R185 for businesses and homes, the reduction in rates and taxes which were imposed during the hard lockdown period and the direct supply of electricity from Eskom.
The municipality spokesperson Themba Sibiya said that the amp charges have since been put on hold to allow for public participation and that the response was prompted by the public outcry regarding that the matter was not adequately consulted.
According to Lance Gibson, community representative, “On the 1st of July, the (electricity) tariff (was) increase by 10% which is well above the NERSA regulated amount of 6.22%.”
Gibson does not agree that passing on the Eskom debt to residents will yield the desired results.
“When we worked it out, with all the residents in Thaba Chweu, the income from R185 per month is about R3.8 million. The interest alone monthly on R750 million is R19 million so there is no way they’re using that money to pay it off Eskom,” he explains.
However, Sibiya says that the community cannot purchase electricity directly from Eskom as the municipality will not be able to surrender the electricity license until the debt is settled.
He agrees that the service charges were introduced to service the Eskom debt.
Adding that “the municipality recently conducted a cost of supply study that discovered that the electricity bought from Eskom is sold to the community at a loss.”
Sibiya acknowledges that “the community was displeased about the implementation of the AMP charge as they felt they were not adequately consulted,” and adds that “tariff increases for the current financial year are continuing as adopted by the council.”
A community member, Alex Dibakoena says the poorest of the poor suffer the most from the tariff increases and additional services charges.
“They’re suffocating us while the women and the men in the street trying to survive in this pandemic,” said Dibakoena.
According to Gibson, another sore point is that the municipality also implemented salary increases and bonuses during the pandemic which has left a bitter taste in the mouths of committee members.
“On the 1st of July, we learned that all the councillors got bonuses and the municipal staff all got increases all ranging from 6-10%,” says Gibson, adding that the Executive Mayor and others who were invited failed to attend a meeting in which answers to these demands were expected.
In response to this allegation, Sibiya says “there’s nothing like that.”
Gibson also shared that the committee has been privy to documentation during a recent virtual council meeting where it is alleged that R3.5 million was issued by the national government to the municipality mainly for relief.
According to Gibson, this was “to assist with feeding and assist NGOs to feed those in need and for other issues like supporting informal businesses but none of us has seen anything.”
“The budget was used for the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment such as face masks, face shields, sanitizers, electronic thermometers etc, which was in line with the municipality’s COVID 19 response programme,” responds Sibiya. It is not clear whether this information was shared with the community.”
In May, the national government made available more than R5 billion to support municipalities to assist them in responding to the COVI-19 pandemic. The funds were meant to support municipalities to provide additional access to basic services for vulnerable communities during the lockdown and to sanitize public transport facilities as the economy undergoes a phased re-opening. However, Gibson says this is yet to be seen.
Local governments should provide basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity, refuse collection as well as roads and other community services.
This underpins the government’s service delivery commitments. However, municipalities such as Thaba Chweu have been struggling with the provision of these basic services due to management challenges according to the Committee.
Gibson says the community has tried in numerous occasions to highlight their plight to the municipality leadership, but it always fell on deaf ears. After a few incidences where the Executive Mayor either pitched late for planned meetings or simply did not pitch, tempers flared and “a few stones were thrown” out of frustration.
In one meeting which resembled a scene from a blockbuster movie, Gibson says the Executive Mayor arrived five hours later flanked by about 30 riot police and K9 unit. “She had a long reply (to the demands) but at the end of the day it was clear these tariffs and service charges are here to stay, and we will never get power from Eskom.” narrates Gibson.
Gibson says that the crowd dispersed peacefully that day yet allegedly some people were harassed by the riot police, some shot at with rubber bullets and one elderly woman was beaten up in her home by the police. The community was angered by this. “Charges have been laid against the station commander with regards to this,” he adds.
“A decision was later taken (by the community) the next day that the municipality should not open the offices here in Graskop until the service charges were cancelled, tariff increases reduced, and negotiations opened concerning getting Eskom direct power.”
“If this municipality continues on its chosen path businesses will continue to close down and tourism will no longer be a viable option,” says Gibson emphatically.
Sibiya says community consultations have already started.
(COMPILED BY INSIDE METROS STAFF)