Hundreds in AbaQulusi face R30K fine or 3 years in prison for electricity theft

There is no place to hide for locals with illegal electricity connections as disconnecting municipal employees comb through town.

Last week alone, the mayor, Cllr Jerry Sibiya had to turn away residents that stood outside his office begging for a moment to speak to him in the hopes that they would be pardoned from having to pay the hefty R30 000 fine.

“There is really nothing I can do for them, they knew they were wrong, and now they are facing the consequences for their actions,” he said.

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The mayor said that ridding AbaQulusi off the illegal connections is already having a positive impact on revenue collection.

“In areas such as Hlobane/Coronation, we used to collect around R5000 per month, you won’t believe the drastic change we have had as we have moved up to collecting R40 000 in February,” he said.

With some community members from the Cliffdale area having not paid for electricity since around 1980, AbaQulusi Municipality believes that this ‘no more Mr Nice Guy’ approach is long overdue.

The law states that anyone found guilty of stealing electricity can now be jailed for up to no less than three years and that second time offenders will be jailed for no less than five years.

With such laws in place, the municipality is hoping to stop the ongoing perpetration of electricity theft and bring those guilty to justice.