Community activists are furious after residents complained that an official in the electricity department of the Merafong City Local Municipality, located in the southwestern part Gauteng, is soliciting bribes to reconnect households illegally, reports Carletonville Herald.  

The issue has sparked widespread anger among local civic movements.

“We have received complaints from vulnerable residents in Carletonville, especially single unemployed women, that a municipal electricity department official is approaching households whose electricity has been disconnected or is at risk of being disconnected,” says Elderly People Movement For Change activist Mzwandile Kheswa.

“The official tells residents he can ‘keep the lights on’ if they pay him cash directly. The money is, however, not paid into any municipal account. It is deposited via Capitec Cash Send for his personal benefit,” Kheswa said.

Proof of illicit cash transfers

He noted that a resident in Geldenhuys Street in Carletonville Extension 9 has supplied proof that she has already paid the official R2 500 for such transfers. According to another activist, Buti Mthembu of Omo, they have also been made aware of a business in Welverdiend paying the same official.

They have asked the municipality to launch an immediate investigation and lay criminal charges against the employee. They also want the municipality to help the affected resident with her electricity account so that she can have power in her home again, and they are calling for an awareness campaign to warn residents not to pay any municipal official directly in cash.

Although the Herald took the issue to Merafong City Local municipality marketing and communication manager Temba Fezani, no feedback was received by the time of publishing.

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