Six businesses in Wadeville wrongfully get disconnected

Six businesses in Wadeville were left without power after MMC for Finance Nkululeko Dunga wrongfully disconnected them on August 25.

The disconnections formed part of Dunga’s operation Siyacima Manje-Namhlanje, a campaign to recover over R24b owed to the municipality.

This operation targets major debtors, including companies, SOEs, and government departments.

GCN visited the six businesses because they wished to speak out about the impact of Dunga’s actions, which resulted in six days without power for these businesses.

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All these businesses provided GCN with proof that they were not in arrears with their accounts.

The MMC even took to social media on the day of disconnections to announce that those businesses owed the city close to R16m and that illegal power connections were also discovered.

One of the business owners, Nadine Pretorius from Alloy Business Trust, said they lost a lot of money in those six days.

“Production was halted, and we couldn’t do our work. Even businesses with backup power did not have enough power supply.

“It is wrong because we do not owe the City of Ekurhuleni any monies, and we can prove it,” said Pretorius.

She said three weeks before they were disconnected, criminals vandalised the substation and stole cables, leading the businesses to secure it.

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“The energy department restored power but did not have all the material to fix it. They made a temporary connection and said they would return when they had the parts, and now Dunga accused us of illegal connections,” said Pretorius.

The business owners told GCN that on the day of the disconnections, keys for the substation, which businesses paid for securing it, were collected by Dunga’s team under false pretences.

“We had left a notice on the door stating where the key could be collected. They collected the key, and we assumed they were going to complete the repair work and do away with the temporary connection. However, we were cut off,” said Pretorius.

When the business owners arrived at the site to determine why there was no power, they were accused of illegal connections and owing the CoE money.

“We were willing to provide proof to the MMC that we don’t owe the city anything but were not given the chance,” said Pretorius.

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She said that as business owners, they were disappointed by what happened because they paid on time.

“We don’t owe the CoE. We contribute to the economy and provide jobs. How are we supposed to maintain our businesses?

Some businesses here lost meat stock because the fridges did not work. That is revenue lost and money down the drain.

“No one is going to reimburse us. We have clients who expect us to deliver. The MMC needs to apologise to us because what happened should never have happened in the first place,” said Pretorius.

Ward 39 Clr Jean Ingram said Dunga’s actions were unacceptable, especially when the businesses were willing to provide proof.

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“These businesses should not even have suffered in the first place. If the MMC spoke to them first and properly stated what he was there for on the day, this would have been avoided,” said Ingram.

She agreed with the group that Dunga owed the business owners an apology.

GCN sent a media enquiry on September 7, requesting comment by September 8 at noon, to the CoE questioning Dunga’s actions and the processes followed during the operation.

CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said the MMC’s office would respond.

“We forwarded this enquiry to his office because he drives the campaign himself,” said Dlamini.

At the time of going to print, we had not received a response from the MMC’s office.