The municipal spokesperson, Thoko Riet, says they will be moving to disconnect more buildings, including households, of those who owe the municipality for services provided – this includes households of staff and councillors of the municipality. The government buildings, which had their electricity disconnected, have since paid the municipality enough to have their power restored. Riet previously said the government departments that make use of their services, owe at least R800 million, while elite businesses owe at least R200 million. 

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In the early days of August, the municipality - led by the Executive Mayor, Kagisho Sonyoni - embarked on a journey to recuperate money owed to them for services provided. The journey included discontinuing power to buildings of those who have been defaulting on making payments. The first few government departments that felt the wrath of the municipality, were the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature, followed by the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), which at the time allegedly owed the municipality almost R14 million. The Department of Education, together with the Department of Transport, Safety and Liaison, were also left without power in their buildings.

However, there has been conflicting statements between the DPWI and the municipality when it comes to the disconnection of electricity in their (department) building(s). The department’s statement alleged the municipality has apologised for disconnecting electricity in the DPWI’s building and other government departments’ buildings for which the DPWI is paying rates and taxes for.

Riet, in reply to OFM News, said no form of apology was ever offered to the department because on the day of the disconnection there was proof that the department(s) owed the municipality. The department further alleged that the municipality did not issue a notice of non-payment and did not engage with the regional office concerning the accounts before disconnection. Riet maintains that they issued two notices - one for overdue accounts and another notice for disconnection.

Apart from government departments, elite businesses that make use of the municipality’s services have also been caught in the spotlight. Riet says that some of the businesses have started to pay towards their debt, while others will get their electricity disconnected. When coming to switching off electricity in households, Riet says this is to address the culture of non-payment for services. They hope through this, customers will be able to make payment arrangements with the municipality, should their bills be too high for them to maintain.

In concluding, Riet explains that defaulting customers have contributed to the quality of service delivery to residents of the area and also the quality of infrastructure. After they have recovered the money owed to them, they will give the necessary attention to the infrastructure of the municipality and to improving the quality of service delivery.

OFM News