A City of Tshwane electrician was hijacked, held hostage and forced to switch on electricity in Soshanguve in February this year. Image: City of Tshwane
Tshwane Mayor rips out illegal connections and fines businesses R10 million each
City of Tshwane fined businesses R10 million each for failing to pay for services.
A City of Tshwane electrician was hijacked, held hostage and forced to switch on electricity in Soshanguve in February this year. Image: City of Tshwane
The City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Randall Williams got down and dirty on Thursday, 9 February 2023, ripping out illegal electrical connections and fining various businesses R10 million each for illegal connections.
CITY FINES GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT R10 MILLION
Williams joined the MMC for Finance Councillor Peter Sutton and various other officials.
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He said various businesses, together with one government department, owed the City R50 million for defaulting on their water bills.
THREE PROPERTIES WERE FINED FOR ILLEGAL ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS
During the revenue collection drive, the city found three properties housing a private school, a hair along, hardware, and a scrapyard for cars, all illegally connected. The City of Tshwane fined all these businesses for illegal electrical connections.
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“In one building, the electricity connection came directly from the city’s main substation, feeding two more properties next to it. Our teams immediately disconnected the illegal connections. We have since issued the businesses with illegal electricity connections and lined them R10 million each.”
Williams said they conducted this campaign in the inner city and Pretoria West targeting businesses that have repeatedly failed to pay the city for services rendered.
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“I want to encourage our teams driving this campaign to push ahead as this will ultimately benefit Tshwane residents. Increased revenue collection is critical for any municipality to run its operations effectively and enable quality service delivery.”
Williams also encourages consumers to pay for services consumed or to come forward and make a payment arrangement with the city to keep their accounts in good standing. He encourages them not to make illegal connections.
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During this drive, the city also shut down an illegal waste storage and sorting business in the Pretoria CBD. The company, which operated on City-owned property, could not produce a valid lease agreement from the city.
“Furthermore, as the issuing authority of waste storage and sorting permits, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development also confirmed that they have no record of the business operations. The owner was given seven days to clear the site entirely.”
