Nearly two years after the City of Johannesburg set aside a R296m budget to electrify informal settlements across the city, the electrification project at Vukani informal settlement remains unfinished.

Now, City Power says the project should be completed by the end of the 2026/27 financial year. The commitment to electrify Vukani formed part of a pledge made during Mayor Dada Morero’s 2025 state of the city address, which struck an optimistic tone about the city’s plans to bring power to underserved communities.

At the time, City Power confirmed to Alex News that five informal settlements in Alexandra, including Vukani, stood to benefit from the electrification drive.

Read more: City Power encourages Alexandra residents to pay for electricity at electricity imbizo

Now, almost two years on, the project remains incomplete, and residents say they want to know where the allocated funds have gone and when will the projects be completed. Some added that the small businesses contracted to carry out the work have also been left out of pocket. “We are asking that the Vukani project be completed and that contractors be paid,” resident Jomo Sike said.

“I am one of the people who have not been paid today. My child has been sent away from the school today. As Vukani small, micro, and medium-sized enterprises, we asking for our money, please.”

City Power acting CEO Charles Tlouane has pushed back on claims from some residents that the project has dragged on for three years. He said the delay has been shorter than reported, and attributed the hold-up to cash flow constraints.

“It is a matter related to the flow of cash from where we have been sitting with respect to the purchase of equipment, but all has been resolved, so we should be able to come forth and restore that matter very quickly.”

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Tloune said completing the Vukani project remains a key performance indicator within City Power’s service delivery programme, and he committed to resolving the outstanding work very quickly. He was, however, unable to give residents a firm completion date. “Because we had some delays based on the planning, I am not at liberty to indicate at what time, but we should finish it off before the end of the financial year.”

Furthermore, he confirmed that some contractors working on the Vukani project have not yet been paid, but linked the issue directly to the utility’s broader cash flow problems, and noted that is why it is important for customers to pay for electricity they use.

“We are asking customers to please pay for the electricity that they use, because if they don’t pay, we won’t have cash to operate. Remember, that is operating cash. So, if we don’t have cash to operate and customers do not want to pay, how are they supposed to get that service?”

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