The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) asked the Ekurhuleni Metro Council’s Mayor, Mr Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, to examine the Metro’s municipal by-law on electricity, specifically the confusing memorandum of 14 July 2010 regarding the possibility that residents could be held liable for replacing power cables that have been vandalized or stolen.
The request follows after eleven homeowners in Kempton Park recently receiving bills after thieves had vandalised their power cables.
They each received a bill for R1 740 and have to pay the amount before a new power cable will be installed.
Such actions by the Metro place an additional financial burden on households, particularly in two of the cases where the homeowners are pensioners who cannot afford to pay the specified amount.
The 14-year-old memorandum causes confusion seeing as the electricity by-law does not state this explicitly, but rather that residents could be held liable for an installation fee.
The Freedom Front Plus, consequently, launched a petition against the Metro and asked residents to pressure the Metro to retract the memorandum, which was issued by the former ANC-controlled council.
The memorandum’s provisions were not stringently enforced in the past, but seem to have taken root as of late.
It is unfair, in the Freedom Front Plus’s view, to have residents shell out for infrastructure that is not their property.
Residents can sign the petition by following this link: https://forms.gle/ivQmrkuz7kqtwfNy5
The party will hand the signed petition over to the Metro’s Petition Committee.
Residents, and especially people such as pensioners who are already under financial pressure, cannot be expected to shoulder the burden of cable theft, which has been on the rise in Kempton Park since January.
