DA urges Eskom to consult residents about prepaids first
"We agree that Eskom should consult with the people prior to making any decisions."
False rumours can break friendships and tarnish reputations, so the rumours spread by people about how the Democratic Alliance (DA) is encouraging green boxes doesn’t sit well with the party’s leadership.
Tshepo Mhlongo, the Member of Parliament for the DA discredited the rumours and said, “Whoever is spreading the rumours about the DA urging Eskom to install prepaid in people’s houses is misinforming the people.”
Mhlongo elaborated that the DA is a political party and is not competent to either install or upgrade power utilities and that the people must understand that it is the City of Johannesburg that is responsible for such matters.
Mhlongo produced an announcement, tablings and committee report document from parliament, in the document dated back from June 15, it reads, “The Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises (the Committee) undertook an oversight visit to the community of Soweto, particular residents of Diepkloof Zone One and Two, Orlando East and Soweto pensioners from March 22-24.
The committee received petitions from these communities and the main purpose of the visit was to interact with Eskom in order to get a solution to the issues raised by the community.
Furthermore, the committee wanted to interact with representatives of the community to give a report on how the petition has been processed.
- Also read: Mashatile ready speedup housing backlog
The same document from parliament had a reply from Eskom which read, “The representatives of Eskom, informed the committee that Eskom has consulted broadly and extensively.
Consultations were held with the MMC, councilors and community leaders but not with the general community. The main cause of the resistance was due to the fact that the community was against the principle of prepaid electricity.
The debt of Soweto was rising monthly and was standing at R8bn with interest, the money was required to build infrastructure and maintain existing plants.
However, Eskom has proposed the following interventions to ease the transition: customers were given a once off 200 units at installation stage, the debt of the customer would be suspended for three years with the aim of erasing it if the customer has not bypassed or tampered with the meter, the customer should only buy electricity from accredited vendors.
The committee was informed that there was also a problem of electricity outages and people who get electrocuted due to illegal connections. Eskom has only managed to install 49 000 prepaid meters in Soweto while the target is 180 000 prepaid meters.
The project has been disrupted and opposed by the community. Community members were demanding a flat rate due to socio-economic conditions, however, the challenges have been that a flat rate could not be implemented only for Soweto.
Soweto residents used to receive 100Kwh of free electricity offered by the municipality as indigents. However, Eskom did not have that service. Eskom has since developed a system to ensure that all indigents be registered so that they qualify for the free basic electricity.”
Mhlongo said, “We agree that Eskom should consult with the people prior to taking any decisions.”
