Men of God in Alex ‘illegally connect’ to City Power
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena has confirmed that the Winners Chapel International in Alexandra has paid R240 000 which is a portion of the more than R700 000 they owe and have made arrangements to clear their debt.
Two churches in Alexandra, which are supposed to be shining lights of honesty, have been disconnected after they were found to have illegally connected themselves to the electricity network of the City of Johannesburg’s power utility City Power.
The disconnections were done on January 17 when City Power launched a massive blitz to clamp down on payment-defaulting customers and those that had illegally connected themselves to its power network.
One of those churches is the Winners Chapel International’s Johannesburg branch and the Revelation Spiritual Home church Alexandra branch, both of which are situated next to the Alexandra Community Health Centre which is popularly known in the township as the Alex Clinic or Masakhane Clinic.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena confirmed on January 18 that the Winners Chapel, which had the previous day refused to engage with the media, had made a down payment of R240 000 to City Power as part of its efforts to service its debt, which is estimated at R700 0000.
Mangena said they were not in a position to know how much the Revelation Spiritual Home church owes City Power as they bypassed the meter and illegally connected themselves to the utility’s power network and were living for free.
There was no one at the church premises when City Power made their surprise visit, only a security guard who could not answer any questions. The technicians proceeded to cut services and uprooted the cables used to illegally connect them.
“We are calling on all those that are defaulting on their payments and those that have illegally connected to come to us before we get to them, so they can do the right thing and sort out their issues with us. We are on your trail, and we will get you,” Mangena said.
