Mangaung Metro’s fraught relationship with its power utility, Centlec, has come under scrutiny during parliament’s visit to Bloemfontein. Centlec Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Malefane Sekoboto, told the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water, and Sanitation in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Thursday that Mangaung treats the utility like its ‘stepchild’ when it comes to the R120 million fee Centlec pays Mangaung per annum. Sekoboto explains that this hefty annual payment centers on an agreement between the two parties regarding the sale of distribution boards (DBs). Sekoboto gets into why this agreement has now become a bone of contention between the two parties.

The Centlec CEO says the R120 million per annum agreement was facilitated by the Regional Electricity Distributor when rates were being established at the utility. The agreement is now under question, with Centlec wanting to renegotiate the payment owing to it not being financially sustainable to pay such a hefty fee.

Meanwhile, Mangaung owes the same utility over R7 million for services rendered. To add further woes to Centlec’s dilemma, the utility’s board has been deemed dysfunctional and can be of no assistance in the matter. 

“We used to have seven board members, now we only have five board members. Their term is ending in 2023, at the end of September,” says Sekoboto. The chairperson of the Centlec board, Kenosi Moroka, recently came under fire in media reports for alleged fruitful and wasteful expenditure at the utility, running into tens of millions of rands.

OFM News