Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s electricity transformer replacement and pre-paid meter installation project in Emfuleni is facing increasing community resistance – with no credible steps yet to fight infrastructure-killing lack of maintenance and copper theft.
The project is managed directly from Lesufi’s Johannesburg office but revenue generated by the project will go directly to the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), says the Premier’s office.
But fears are growing that the 31 intended new Emfuleni transformers will soon be targeted by copper thieves to export the copper .
According to experts, copper theft and export in South Africa has increased dramatically since government banned scrap metal exports.
Lesufi’s office this week defended his project (19 brand new transformers has already been switched on in Emfuleni) as being structured to simultaneously win community support along with fighting meter bypassing and illegal connections.
“We will simply not switch on transformers if the community around it does not accept pre-paid meters, whose installation goes hand in hand with removing electricity bypasses and illegal connections,” said on source close to the project.
The strategy behind Lesufi’s project is to generate revenue around new transformers by convincing communities and stakeholders near them to accept pre-paid meters. Unfortunately these meters are easy to bypass and cannot alert authorities to when they are bypassed like real smart meters, say critics of the project.
Meter bypassing and illegal connections, along with cable theft and infrastructure vandalism are a massive revenue killer for the embattled Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM), with only about 18 000 out of an estimated 72 000 prepaid meters installed presently generating revenue.
Lack of maintenance and extensive infrastructure plundering by criminals have halted or severely retarded all infrastructure-centered projects years – including the Vaal River clean-up programme which saw both the SA Army and ERWAT withdraw in defeat.
Rand Water has since taken over the Vaal River project but progress has been very slow with no credible attempts to address cable theft, say stakeholders.
Construction and other mafias in Emfuleni have also not hesitated to use violence and hostage tactics to bring infrastructure upgrades to a halt with demands to “only use local Emfuleni labour” and blackmailing contractors.
ELM also has no capacity to fight cable theft after terminating the contract of General George Fivaz – a former National Commissioner of the SAPS – to combat cable theft and associated internal ELM corruption in 2016.
Fivaz also headed the intelligence operation at Eskom in 2021 and 2022 which was used by then-CEO Andre de Ruyter to combat criminal syndicates.
