The head of Water, Energy and Sanitation at the Greater Giyani Municipality, Gezani Abby Maluleke, recently accompanied police and Eskom employees in a house to house search of rigged meters in the township and surrounding villages. Maluleke explained that based on the households visited in Sekhunyani, Siyandhani, Bode, Dzingi-dzingi and Xikukwani, about 95% had their meters rigged and were not paying for the electricity they use.

When asked why they rigged their meter boxes, most residents admitted to have bribed Eskom employees to rig them. “I expected to find rigged meters in the villages, but not in Giyani as most residents can afford to buy electricity,” he said. He especially referred to Section E
and F where many households were found with illegal meters designed to either stop or lower electricity consumption.

Maluleke said the municipality was currently installing electricity in eight villages around Giyani and is concerned that non-paying residents may derail its efforts to electrify new settlements. According to him, those that were found with bridged meters received a warning and a R6 000 fine. “Among them was a lodge owner who was fined more than R30 000 after it was established that he last bought electricity amounting to R80 in 2019,” continued Maluleke.

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He urged residents to avoid bridging meters as that would result in Eskom implementing load reduction in their area, a situation that will inconvenience them on top of load shedding. Nandoni pipeline With regar to progress on the Nandoni pipeline, Maluleke said the project was about 99% complete. He said the last thing that needs to be done is connecting the pipeline from Nandoni to the canal which leads to Nsami Dam.

They also need to clear vegetation along the canal’s trail, he said. According to him, Mopani District Municipality is in the process of appointing 37 contractors to do water reticulation in 24 villages that falls under phase one of the project, which entails the installation of
water pipelines at every household in the villages.

The water is not going to be free, every household will be expected to pay a certain fee that will go towards maintenance of the reticulation system.
“Of course we will need to collect fees to help us maintain the pipeline system. However, we will consider exempting the households that have no means to afford payment,” he said.