While Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) owed Eskom about R4b, Secunda residents received electricity bills ranging from R20 000 to R98 000.
These bills came while the residents paid their bills. The GMM provided no answers when the Ridge Times contacted them for comment.
In another electricity issue, a daycare centre in Secunda had their electricity cut, although they were up to date with their electricity bill.
They had to battle for five days with the municipality to get their electricity restored. In the meantime, the meat in their fridge went off.
While the municipality apparently acts very strict with some households and businesses, in other cases, they cannot fight illegal electricity connections and even fix the bridging of electricity that municipal employees did as a quick solution.
According to a resident of Sunset Park in Secunda, the municipality came to ‘fix’ electricity issues in their street longer than a year ago.
ALSO READ: Man van Bethal sukkel om werk te kry weens kanker
“They bridged our electricity, and it resolved the problem. Now they leave it like that, and our electricity is still bridged. We have not received an electricity bill for more than a year,” said the resident.
“We go to the municipality every second month to request them to fix it, but nobody there seems to help us or to care.”
Although these residents do not receive an electricity bill, they still pay the GMM an average amount each month.
The Ridge Times asked the spokesman of GMM, Lucky Mhlongo if he could explain how it was possible that an average household of four people could have an electricity bill of R98 000 and if the electricity price increased so much; if there might be errors on these sky-high bills; what the municipality’s procedures are when cutting off people’s electricity; why a daycare centre’s electricity was cut off while they were paying their bill; why it takes the municipality five days to restore electricity; who will be held responsible for the meat the daycare centre lost; if it is standard procedure for GMM employees to bridge electricity instead of fixing the real problem; how many households in Secunda are using free electricity because the electricity was bridged; if the municipality can afford it to give people free electricity by not fixing electricity that the municipality bridged and where these people can complain and ask for help to fix their electricity.
Mhlongo’s response was, “The affected consumers are requested to visit their nearest customer care centre to have their queries resolved.”
He failed to answer all the other questions the Ridge Times asked him.
ALSO READ: Two businessmen from Delmas killed in a dramatic drive by shooting
