Mayor: President should not sign proposed electricity bill

Mayor Cilliers Brink sent a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 21 May to ask him to reconsider the legislation on electricity currently on his table for signature, as the public participation process on it falls short.

Brink told Rekord the metro stands with the more than 250 other municipalities under the South African Local Government Association umbrella to ensure that the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill is referred back for further public participation.

The law is aimed at ending Eskom’s monopoly on electricity generation by introducing more competition in the supply of electricity.

“We feel the legislation undermines the authority of the metro and municipalities to provide power. We are particularly concerned about an amendment to the distribution of electricity narrowing the scope of electricity reticulation. This amendment took place after the parliamentary processes were completed and was not exposed to the public participation process,” explains Brink.

The association feels so strongly about this that the management said in a statement that they would go to the Constitutional Court unless specific definitions in the Act are changed.

Brink said he is optimistic that the president will take the representations into consideration and refer the legislation back.

“This is important to us because it directly affects the metro’s ability to earn income through the sale of electricity,” said Brink.

A public participation process that did work, according to Brink, is the recent process of the metro around the proposed increase to its service delivery rates.

Several public meetings were held in Pretoria from April 9 to 24 to discuss the proposed and recommended rates.

The city council made the recommendations during its meeting of March 27 during the discussion of the draft budget for 2024/2025.

The proposed budget introduces various increases, including:

– 12% for electricity
– 5% for property rates
– 5% for refuse removal
– 5.9% for water
– 5.9% for sanitation

Brink pointed out that the increases mostly reflect the inflation rate of 5% and are much lower than the recommended increases of other metros such as Ethekwini, which proposed an electricity tariff increase of 14%.

“Of all the metros, our proposed tariff increases are the lowest,” explained Brink.

He emphasised that the rates are not being used to get the metro out of its financial predicament.

According to him, various committees of the metro, such as the mayoral committee, are meeting at present and at the end of May to discuss the feedback from the public participatory meetings.

The proposed tariffs as approved by the city council during the consideration of the draft budget for 2024/25 in their next council meeting, will be implemented from 1 July.

A July 1 event that Brink felt less positive about is the final legal introduction and rollout of the traffic fine system, the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences system.

Minister of Transport, Sindisiwe Chikunga, confirmed last week that her department intends to put all legal requirements in place before the elections, such as the appointment of a tribunal, to put the system into operation after having been tested and finalised over a period of 20 years.

The system, which streamlines traffic offences and introduces a demerit points system that could lead to suspended or cancelled licences, is expected to be rolled out across South Africa.

The system has been in its trial phase for several years in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

Brink explained that the metro already had to implement some of the provisions of the system for a period of 10 years.

This is due to resolutions of previous metro councils and administrations after they had agreed for the metro to be a guinea pig for the traffic fine system’s regulations.

“I’m not in favour of this system. It will lower our income from fines. We have already felt the negative effects of it for quite some time. The provisions surrounding the fines are difficult to implement and cost money, as fine notices have to be ordered by registered post on violators. It has been difficult for the metro to execute already,” Brink said.

Regarding the elections on 29 May, Brink feels that a coalition government at provincial level would benefit the metro.

He pointed out that the provincial government has proved, through forcing the city council’s dissolution in 2021 for seven months, that they do not have the best interests of the residents and the metro at heart.

“The current provincial government has undermined the metro. They also do not want to work with us politically or support us financially. Where City Power in Johannesburg, for example, gets money from them, we don’t get the same funding. A provincial coalition government will benefit the metro so that the metro can be taken into account more at this government level. We will more likely be able to carry out our city council’s agenda,” said Brink.

Part of this agenda for the next few months is the tightening of by-law policing, such as the confiscation of garbage trucks that illegally dump garbage.

“These offenders must know we are going to fine them and confiscate and tow away their vehicles. This application of by-laws is going to become stricter everywhere,” he warned.

Part of this stricter enforcement plan is the proposed centre for the better application of by-laws currently being created by the metro, where departments will join hands during law enforcement.

“The centre and the application of law enforcing by its employees working together with the metro police are now quickly gaining momentum,” warned Brink.

Regarding the dumping of rubbish, as well as its accumulation in certain neighbourhoods, he pointed out that compared to the City of Cape Town’s budget of R350-million for rubbish removal and rubbish dumping, Tshwane only has R30-million available for this service.

He explained that some of the biggest problems surrounding rubbish dumping in some residential neighbourhoods stem from the fact that backyard dwellers in many neighbourhoods do not want to pay for rubbish removal at R400 per rubbish disposal bin.

One bin per house cannot remove all the rubbish from one yard either and so the rubbish then ends up on the street, especially in and around informal settlements.

“As with the illegal dumping by trucks, it is that behaviour that will have to be changed before the problem can be solved and this change will take some time,” said Brink.

He also commented on the alleged corruption between 2011 and 2017, by AM Consulting Engineers who allegedly earned R1.4-billion in fees from the metro.

The company managed the project management unit for the metro’s Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network. One of AMCE’s core tasks was to help deliver Tshwane’s A Re Yeng bus service.

Brink said that all allegations about corruption and corruption investigations are taken seriously by the metro.

Corruption circles already identified in the metro have led to the suspension of five high-ranking officials in connection with the controversial Rooiwal tender.

“We will fight corruption like a guerilla war,” said Brink.

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