It is understood that since the recent ELM council resolution to explore possible settlement, ELM Executive Mayor Gift Moerane has been tasked with engaging with BXCSA on the matter.

ELM Council also resolved to remove the attorneys representing ELM on the matter, but it is not known if this has yet been done.

DA Councillor Edward von Bodenstein has said legal fees alone had cost ELM R6 million. Neither Mayor Moerane or a BXCSA spokeswoman were prepared to comment.

The Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) has warmly welcomed seeking a settlement with BXCSA on the default judgment, which has resulted in a swathe of bank account attachments and seizures by BXCSA.

“It is high time to find a settlement because ELM has clearly acted in bad faith since the beginning of this sorry legal saga – first ELM pretended the contract was illegal when it was only irregular and despite a recommendation by the Auditor-General to regularise they did not regularise.

“The whole matter was manipulated only to get the friends of certain people in place to come and install backward pre-paid meters instead of expanding the smart meter programme, which allowed account-holders to monitor their accounts and thus exercise control.

“Now almost everything ELM bills on water and electricity can be considered an estimate thumb-suck and should really be seen as theft,” said GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger.

ELM suffered catastrophic revenue losses after then Municipal Manager Oupa Nkoane and CFO Andile Dyakala summarily terminated the smart meter contract in mid 2019 – but only after forcing up to 200 quality job losses and infrastructure closure due to non-payment over a long period.

Nkoane and Dykala had no contingency plans in place after the termination and the entire smart meter programme dissolved into chaos and an orgy of meter bridging leading to even further revenue losses.

ELM’s application to have the original R499 million default judgment rescinded is still on the court roll.