FRANCO DITERLIZZI of Bonaero Park writes:
I refer to an article in Kempton EXPRESS, “Metro says not liable for appliance damages” by Tumelo Mthethwa (July 7).
Several residents suffered sizable losses of tens of thousands of Rands due to damaged and destroyed electrical appliances when the metro’s contractors were replacing meter boxes. The council spokesman, Themba Gadebe, arrogantly said the metro would not entertain any compensation for the victims’ financial losses.
Gadebe’s lame excuse was that the city’s by-laws had a disclaimer that they would not be responsible for any damages from whatsoever cause, providing that compliance with the Electricity Act is maintained. That facile statement does not mention the council’s moral responsibility to compensate residents for damage caused by them or their contractors.
Anger does not begin to illustrate my feelings and contempt for the Ekurhuleni municipality in this obfuscation outrage.
Gadebe passed the buck by suggesting that aggrieved residents should claim from their personal insurers. But not everyone has personal insurance and why should residents incur the insurance excess costs?
If the council does not want to incur any financial expense for the negligent damage of residents’ property, surely they should themselves subscribe to insurance, covering their work as any decent and professional private sector company does. And if they had an iota of service ethic to the long-suffering public they should hold their contractors to account to provide compensation for their negligent work.
It should be obligatory for council contractors to carry insurance as a compulsory contract stipulation.
Sadly, the National Consumer Commission (NCC) has been a huge disappointment since its inception, otherwise they could have forced the council to meet its moral obligations to consumers. Perhaps the DA ward 17 councillor, Tracey Butler, could dutifully show us all why the DA should be in office rather than the arrogant ANC administration, and refer the issue to the Public Protector (one of the very few effective public watchdog bodies,) for action.
Sooner or later voters across the political spectrum will punish arrogant politicians at the polls. I certainly know where my precious voting cross is not going on August 3.
