Dear Editor
Eskom has decided to enforce loadshedding on Joburg due to the municipality’s failure to settle its Eskom account. Eskom announced this drastic action on 7 November after Joburg’s City Power has allowed its account to fall into arrears to the tune of R6,3 billion.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is deeply disturbed at the allegations of a systemic capture, and mismanagement at City Power. This mismanagement has resulted in the CoJ teetering on the brink of a mass power interruption by Eskom.
The DA in Johannesburg is extremely concerned about the impact on lives of residents and business in the city that this avoidable load-shedding will have. Law-abiding residents have been paying their bills and will now be unfairly treated by having their electricity cut due to no fault of their own but because of the ineptitude of the ANC-EFF-ActionSA-PA coalition in the city.
City Power is a wholly city owned entity of the municipality, and its failure comes as a direct result of the negligence of the ANC’s Executive Mayor, Dada Morero, who also served as the MMC for Finance in the city before becoming the mayor. We have consistently fought for exposure of City Power’s failures in governance and management, as the entity as turned into a haven for unchecked nepotism, cronyism and failures in executive oversight. On 9 November 2023, the DA submitted a request for information under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to City Power, seeking details about contractors, employees, and other appointments. To date, only an acknowledgement of the request has been received, with no substantive response.
Reports from credible sources suggest a deliberate order to withhold this information, an action that raises serious concerns about transparency within City Power. Additionally, whistle-blowers have provided substantial evidence of the manipulation of City Power’s recruitment policy, allegedly enabling the appointment of relatives and associates of senior management in non-compliance with Regulation 15 of the MFMA, which governs minimum requirements for hiring.
Despite the DA’s repeated calls for accountability, there has been no cooperation from the ANC-ActionSA-EFF coalition. Therefore, the DA has formally requested the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate these allegations on 6 November.
City Power’s management appears to have breached the Municipal Systems Act by appointing senior managers without public advertisements, contrary to prescribed regulations. This approach prevents the acquisition of necessary technical expertise and undermines service delivery in Johannesburg.
According to whistle-blower reports, numerous individuals have been hired despite a lack of budget allocation for their positions, leading to an employee-related cost that exceeds the budget by R82 million. Additionally, City Power is grappling with a maintenance backlog estimated at R40 billion, which severely impacts its ability to maintain infrastructure. To add insult to injury, City Power’s overdraft account has surpassed the budget by R671 million.
The DA stands firmly for transparency and accountability. We are liaising with law enforcement agencies and other government bodies to address this breakdown in governance and ensure Johannesburg’s residents receive the services they deserve.
We will also write to National treasury and Auditor General to investigate the violation of the MFMA by City Power due to ballooning employee related cost and procurement processes.
The answer to failures in governance and world-class ineptitude cannot always be to bail out failing metros with tax-payer money. We are engaging law enforcement agencies and all spheres of government to intervene. Only large-scale intervention will rescue Johannesburg from total collapse.
Regards
Cllr Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku
DA Johannesburg Caucus Leader
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