Victory was awarded to Bethal and eMzinoni Community for Services Association (Becs) in their 20-month-long court battle for the provision of electricity and other services to the residents.
Mr Ziyaad Dangor, spokesperson for Becs said: “This is a huge victory for us as a community and we thank all of you for your patience under extremely frustrating circumstances.
“Please know that it will take time to fully remedy the electricity supply to Bethal, Milan Park and eMzinoni. Years of mismanagement and neglect simply cannot be wiped out overnight,” said Mr Dangor.
Respondents GMM, GSDM and Eskom were asked for comment regarding the judgment, what this victory will now mean for the residents, as well as what the plans are going forward after the judgement.
GMM, the municipal manager for GMM, GSDM and the municipal manger for GSDM have been ordered by the court to pay all Becs’ legal costs.
Eskom Holdings LTD, the Mpumalanga MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the national minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs have been absolved.
Mr Bongani Maqungo, senior legal advisor for Eskom Holdings SOC Limited said: “This matter relates mainly to issues between the residents and the concerned municipalities and not to Eskom.
“In our view, Eskom was just cited for convenience as an interested party and as the electricity utility that supplies electricity to the municipalities concerned,” said Mr Maqungo.
He said Eskom cannot comment on the judgment as it has no bearing on it.
“Eskom is also not at liberty to comment in the internal affairs of the municipalities and their residents, except to say the municipalities have constitutional and other legislative obligations that require them to deliver services to their respective communities which include, among others, electricity supply,” said Mr Maqungo.
“Eskom has bulk supply agreements with the municipalities and is not responsible for the municipalities’ internal electricity reticulation to their customers/residents.”
“Eskom only implements load-shedding nationally when the national grid is constrained. It gets implemented nationally, not to specific customers and Eskom publishes its intentions nationwide to sensitise the consumers if the grid is constrained,” said Mr Maqungo.
He said Eskom has not received any application for an NMD increase from neither GMM nor GSDM.
“In the judgment it is stated that the NMD can only be increased upon payment as agreed between the parties.”
In response to media enquiry, GSDM said that their team is studying the judgement and has not yet taken a decision on the next step.
With regards to the legal cost to applicant Becs, Mr Bongani Ka Dube, communications for GSDM said: “If this is the instruction by the court order, yes but as indicated above, GSDM is still studying the judgement.”
With regards to additional or rotational load-shedding being implemented if the NMD is reached, Mr Ka Dube said GMM is in a better position to respond to the question.
“Please keep in mind that GSDM did not take over the electricity function from GMM, but is merely coordinating the work done at Bethal and eMzinoni by Enpower Machite.”
Mr Ka Dube said Enpower Machite is making progress in the electricity supply and maintenance and plans are going ahead to improve the system.
“The project is progressing well although it is threatened by legal processes.
“The GSDM technical team continues to monitor the activities by Enpower Machite and is satisfied with their performance so far. The most recent activity has been a lengthy meeting with the engineers in our offices on January 19, to discuss engineering design proposals,” concluded Mr Ka Dube.
At the time of going to print, GMM responded to questions asked as follows:
“The municipality is studying the judgement and a decision on the steps to be taken will be communicated,” said Mr Donald Green, acting manager of communications for GMM.
