The Executive Mayor of the City of Joburg, Herman Mashaba, has decided to refer the Electricity Supply Commission (Eskom) to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).
This comes after Eskom has failed to engage positively with the mayor on the issue of apparent blanket electricity blackouts in parts of the City, including Soweto.
The mayor had requested a meeting with the Eskom board as well as the government as the main shareholder in Eskom, but this requested has not been acceded to.
Mashaba’s request for the meeting came in the wake of earlier engagements with residents of Bram Fischerville, Soweto, who complained about suffering what appears to be blanket electricity blackouts, despite providing proof that their Eskom accounts were up to date.
The residents complained about illegal connections, meter tampering and widespread inconvenience in their lives.
Following those engagements, Mashaba decided to stage a sit-in at Megawatt Park – the Eskom head office in Sandton – demanding to meet with Eskom executives; however, he was only allowed to meet with provincial officials.
Due to the nature of the issues raised with provincial officials, it was decided that a meeting with the Eskom board was necessary, but the mayor’s request appears to have been ignored.
Meanwhile, paying residents in Soweto are still without electricity, therefore the major turned to NERSA to force the power utility to restore electricity to paying residents.
“The City hereby requests that NERSA institute dispute resolution proceedings, in terms of section 4(1)(c)(i) of the Electricity Act 41 of 1987, between the City (as a consumer as defined in the Act as well as on behalf on the affected residents of the City) and Eskom. The City requires NERSA to urgently intervene in this matter to ensure that Eskom does not continue with its unethical and unlawful conduct, to the detriment of the residents of Johannesburg,” Mashaba said.
