GRASKOP – After enduring a week of no water in Krugersdorp, overseas guests at the Flycatcher Castle checked in to learn that, in this part of the world, they would have to contend with no electricity.
Frustration levels in the castle had been high since Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) instructed its contractor to cut the power to this property 10 days ago. This was done despite a court order granted in 2012, ordering the municipality not to disconnect the power due its own faulty accounting. It took five days of legal threats, and multiple telephone calls before electrician, Mr Hannes Strydom, could cut the lock and flip the switch to restore power to the property.
A sewage problem also ensued because the switch for the sewerage pump for the suburb, located on the same electrical switchboard, was also disconnected. TCM had not responded to questions about why this was done, and why it was not rectified as soon as the pump started overflowing over the weekend.
Between the information and excuses given to him by the contractor, Full Output's Mr Samora Moltaji, and TCM's revenue manager, Mr Mike Mashilo, castle owner,
Mr Manie Connoway could not establish the exact reason for his electricity being cut.
“I had several telephone conver-sations with Mashilo and he first stated that my property was not on the arrears list,” said Connoway.
On the other hand, he was informed by Molatji that he needed to provide proof of payment for four months from October 2012 to January this year.
This is confusing to Connoway because according to the notice Full Output served, he owed over R50 000 reaching back from 2011 – this amount had no bearing on the three-month period cited by Molatji as the reason for his power being disconnected.
Lowvelder had been unable to obtain a response from Mashilo as to why the hotel's power was disconnected.
On Monday a temporary interdict was granted in favour of Connoway for his electricity to be reconnected. TCM has until November 15 to respond. Connoway's attorney indicated that they would proceed with a charge of contempt of court against the municipal manager, acting at the time of the incident. It was unclear whether this would be Mr Tulelo Ratau or Mr Gilbert Nkosi, after the task team managing the affairs of the council made a change to its management last week.
“We explained everything to our guests, and they understood,” said Connoway, but added that the cost of using a generator and loss of income due to guest cancellations had urged him to pursue a case against TCM for damages, “It (TCM) is not fulfilling its mandate to manage the town properly.”
