Powerhouses meet over Afrimat power proposal
AbaQulusi Municipality, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, AfriForum and Afrimat came together in council chambers last week to address the issue of the problematic power line that has had consumers in a quandary as power dips and outages have had a detrimental effect on their businesses and daily operations.
Vuyelwa Poswa says those tampering with and stealing electricity must be penalised.
This stern view was given by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) representative, at a meeting between AfriForum, Afrimat, AbaQulusi Municipality and the power regulator at the council chambers on May 16.
The meeting was held to discuss a dispute submitted to NERSA by AfriForum, regarding the problematic power line running from Cloud’s End to Landbou High School.
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After the meeting was opened in prayer by Afrimat’s Samuel Bessa, Poswa stated the municipality must pay Eskom and in order to do so, consumers must be billed.
AfriForum’s dispute pertains to the quality of supply along the power line, which affects mostly farmers in the area.
“Due to the constant outages, these consumers are facing many challenges,” explains AfriForum’s André van der Walt. “Lack of maintenance is the problem. We met with the municipality in 2018 and not much has happened since then.”
As van der Walt prepared to hand over to Afrimat representatives, Mayor, Jerry Sibiya interjected to provide clarity on the situation at AbaQulusi Municipality, and to give an explanation as to why the municipality has been seemingly unresponsive in this regard.
“It is true, we met.”
Cllr Sibiya explained at that stage, municipal workers were claiming exorbitant amounts of overtime and ‘holding the municipality to ransom’.
“We requested an audit. We want all stakeholders to understand what happened, and the audit identified several issues. We had to re-establish the system as there were far too many ‘acting’ managers. When we tried to clamp down, they retaliated.”
This refers to the period of time when some electricians refused to attend to any faults, and power to Mondlo and parts of Vryheid was subsequently shut off.
“The workers who took part in this act of retaliation were suspended and found guilty,” adds Cllr Sibiya. “However, the labour law is not on the side of employers, and they were only penalised with a warning and the loss of ten days’ pay.”
Also read: Vryheid’s power outages are a deliberate act of sabotage
He went on to explain the many factors contributing to the delay in progress.
“The fortunate part is that many of the consumers along that line are reporting directly to me when there are outages. Lightning is one of the challenges. Trees are another challenge, as mentioned by Mr van der Walt. The responsibility of cutting the trees that are causing problems along the line must be shared. Consumers report poles are being replaced, not on a large scale however.”
Cllr Sibiya admitted that from both parties, there is a lack of communication.
“We currently have no Technical Director, but the process of appointing a new director is almost complete.”
On a positive note, the Mayor reported the overtime issue is being sorted out.
“We have reduced overtime from a monthly cost of R2.7-million to R700 000, which means money that was being wasted can now be used elsewhere.”
Cllr Sibiya also mentioned the Claveshay debacle, which was a massive challenge and resulted in the loss of Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funding and a huge chunk taken out of the operational account of AbaQulusi Municipality, and the vexation caused by rampant cable theft.
“We want to replace the copper cable,” states the Mayor. “This is a major challenge for a small town like this; there are financial challenges.”
As Cllr Sibiya handed over to Afrimat, Poswa offered a short and resounding statement which rang throughout the council chambers.
“Consumers and stakeholders need to hear these truths. This is why the decision makers must be present,” she says, glancing over at the Mayor and Municipal Manager.
André van der Walt then confirmed what the Mayor says is true: “It comes down to finances. We urge you to take Afrimat’s proposal very seriously. It will take a lot of money to refurbish the line. The municipality does not have that money.”
Jacques Stokes delivered the proposal on behalf of Afrimat, which operates a quarry at the end of the line.
“The power dips result in the shutting down of our crushers, which leads to problems in production and damage to machinery, not to mention the risk to our workers. We are now running a generator and the costs are extremely high. This makes no business sense.”
He continued, “The proposal we would like to put forth, and we cannot do this alone, is to set up a trust where stakeholders can put money in to repair the line. The money will then be paid back to the contributing stakeholders in deductions on their municipal bills.
“We have considered negotiations with Eskom out of sheer desperation, but we don’t really want AbaQulusi to lose out on the revenue.”
Poswa intervened at this point, “Eskom can say what they want, but the municipality gets first right. The infrastructure belongs to the municipality. For now, let’s see if we can keep this between the consumer and the municipality. They don’t want to lose you as a customer and will surely welcome your proposal. But they will have to take everything to council first.”
MM, Bonga Ntanzi, seized the opportunity to respond to the Afrimat proposal.
“The infrastructure is terrible,” he confirmed. The municipality is currently under administration, but this institution is not dysfunctional. It was dysfunctional for six years. A lot of work has been done and the institution is aware of the issues. As an accounting officer, I welcome this proposal, but it must go through council and the administrator.”
Also read: We can make it without the intervention of the administrator, AbaQulusi Mayor says
Ntanzi reiterates AbaQulusi Municipality has not sat on its hands…
“The administrator has not come to run the municipality. We are still running the municipality.”
He then advised the proposal be put on paper, and Cllr Sibiya further recommended a time frame be put on the proposal.
The Mayor also agreed to assist, by facilitating the list of users on the line so a meeting can be called.
“The problem is that of inheritance of poor and bad management. Now we need to move forward,” Cllr Sibiya concluded.
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