Rob Ferreira Hospital and the Mpumalanga Government Complex had gone without electricity for more than 12 hours after the City of Mbombela (CoM) had cut off the electricity supply to these facilities yesterday, Wednesday, February 5.

However, the power was finally restored at about 22:20 last night.

According to a DA member in the Mpumalanga Legislature, Teboho Sekaledi, the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport (DPWRT) owes the CoM R5b in rates and taxes. “It is alleged that the department had ignored several letters of demand from the CoM to pay what they owe on rates and taxes. It is also alleged that the department had not been paying for these rates and taxes since June 2024, which led the municipality to finally switch off the electricity supply to the Government Complex and the Rob Ferreira Hospital,” Sekaledi said.

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Rob Ferreira Hospital depended on back-up generators to keep the lights on in the ICU and certain other wards with critically ill patients. In the other wards, as well as at the Government Complex, the staff had to work in the dark the entire day.

The CoM’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, confirmed the electricity was cut off at the above government properties due to their municipal debt. However, he distanced himself from the allegations the DA made that the DPWRT owes the CoM R5b. He said the department knows how much it owes, and that it should disclose this to the public itself. “We followed all the processes to urge the DPWRT to pay us; letters of demand were sent to them, but were ignored. We told them we were going to cut off their electricity, but still they did not pay. So we had no choice but to cut off the electricity. We have switched on their electricity for now, but if the department doesn’t pay as they promised, we are going to cut the power off again until their debt is fully settled.”

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The DPWRT’s spokesperson, Bongani Dhlamini, was not available for comment by the time of publishing.

Dumisane Malamule, the spokesperson for the provincial Department of Health, which is responsible for the management of Rob Ferreira, acknowledged receiving Lowvelder’s enquiry into the matter, but nothing further was heard from him as well.