GTCoC warns on suburbs anger over ELM power cut-offs and interruptions
"Communities which up until now have largely paid for services - even vastly-inflated accounts to which ELM has cut off power despite having no administrative machinery to address disputes - have been angered and provoked by ELM’s arrogance and mismanagement" - GTCoC
By Craig Kotze
Emfuleni’s suburbs are becoming increasingly radicalised as residents and businesses join townships in open defiance of ELM corruption, lengthy power supply interruptions and mass power cut-offs due to wildly inflated estimate billing, organised business has warned.
And ELM officials do not respect the Rule of Law and have not paid back exorbitant electricity increases set aside last year by the Gauteng High Court in terms of an order gained by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC).
“Power supply and distribution have now become as big an issue as the sewer and community/Vaal River sewage pollution crisis.
“ELM and its officials are increasingly being perceived as an untrustworthy oppressive force with no legitimacy whatsoever – and the potential reaction to that is indeed something to be feared but can only be avoided by ELM itself,” said GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger.
Kritzinger was reacting to the recent blockade with burning tyres of Curie Boulevard in Vanderbijlpark – up until now only seen in or near townships – which was a clear warning sign to the municipality that previously docile residents and businesses were now “sick and tired” of ELM’s dismal performance.
The revenue stream ELM could always rely on from the suburbs was in danger of drying up as residents increasingly believe that more can be gained by joining township compatriots in making no-go zones for ELM officials and its contractors.
Kritzinger last week said he and the GTCoC wanted a crisis meeting with newly-appointed ELM Municipal Manager Lucky Leseane as soon as possible to discuss what he regarded as an escalating “radicalisation process” increasingly taking hold in Emfuleni suburbs and businesses throughout the region.
“Communities which up until now have largely paid for services – even vastly-inflated accounts to which ELM has cut off power despite having no administrative machinery to address disputes – have been angered and provoked by ELM’s arrogance and mismanagement,” said Kritzinger.
Kritzinger also urged Executive Mayor Gift Moerane to establish his Mayoral Business Forum as quickly as possible so that the situation could be turned around soon.
“What we have now in Emfuleni is not Government by the People for the People, but only revenue oppression and extortion to pay the ELM salary bill every month without caring a damn if people receive power and services,” said Kritzinger.
Uploaded: 9 Feb 2020
