EFF takes up the cudgels for tenants at flats in Pretoria

The EFF in Tshwane is ready to go to court to help residents from Palm Court in Sunnyside, Pretoria, following the adverse response to their memorandum of demands from MidCity property group.

Last week, angry residents from Palm Court, along with EFF members, marched to MidCity to hand over a memorandum of their demands with the view to stop the installation of smart meters in the building.

The angry tenants picketed on Jorrison Street to oppose the installation of private metering in the building.

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EFF says tenants saw their electricity illegally disconnected

They said they were content with the existing arrangements with the City of Tshwane.

EFF regional ward chair Majuda Mauwane accused MidCity of illegally disconnecting the tenants’ electricity.

“The statutory procedure has not been followed and the installation of pre-paid electrical meters has not been appropriately authorised,” he said.

Mauwane said their legal representative had already instructed MidCity to stop the installations and that they would approach a court of competent jurisdiction for the appropriate interdictory relief.

“We are going to court and we are going to win this one,” he said.

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MidCity property portfolio manager Iris van der Merwe said MidCity held the instruction from the duly appointed trustees and no mandate was given to the EFF legal representative, Vorster and Brand Incorporated, to represent the trustees of the body corporate.

Van der Merwe asked that the trustees being represented by the EFF be identified to address the concerns raised in the memorandum that was handed over last week.

Analyst says someone has to help the poor

Political analyst Piet Croucamp said he couldn’t blame political parties for taking up the case of poor people.

“It could be opportunistic, but somebody has to.

“The thing about South Africa as long as there is 40% unemployment, as long as there are distinct levels of poverty, services such as electricity and water will be a massive burden to those people,” he said.

Croucamp said it was good that some political parties come to the rescue of those who can’t afford to pay for the most basic services.

“One has to understand the case of the municipality and the metros, they pay for the electricity to Eskom, otherwise the taxpayers need to cough up the difference and then it becomes a complicated political matter,” he said.

Croucamp said municipalities had to balance a need for empathy when some people were hopelessly disempowered versus the need to maintain services, saying it was an impossible situation.

“But if we talk about people who are not disempowered and who had the income to pay, that’s the big question in South Africa.

“We know that millions of people who should be paying and can pay have bought into the nonpayment political culture that exists and it comes from the apartheid era.

“How do you separate those who can pay and don’t versus those who can’t?” he asked.

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