Joburg is anything but a world-class African city it purports to be.
Public infrastructure is falling apart. Water and electricity blackouts are commonplace, widespread and consistent.
There appears to be no confidence-boosting plan showing that those in charge are capable and committed to solving these problems.
For days on end, different communities raise the alarm about poor services to which there are no real answers and no accountability.
Eskom’s warning salvo on Thursday that it would cut off electricity supply to Joburg must be seen in the context of this leadership failure by the city.
The power entity served a notice of intention to interrupt the power supply to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City Power at certain pre-determined times of the day.
The entity said it was owed an amount of R4.9bn by the city for bulk electricity.
“Despite all the avenues that Eskom explored and efforts to accommodate the CoJ, the matter has reached a point where Eskom can simply no longer afford to accommodate the CoJ without putting further financial strain on and harming its own business.”
The city has since demanded that Eskom retract its notice, stating it is unjust and counterproductive.
It maintained its claim that it was being over-billed by Eskom – a long-standing issue at the centre of the legal dispute between the two organisations.
“The people of Johannesburg deserve reliable and efficient services, we will not let Eskom’s actions compromise their well-being. We remain committed to serving the best interests of our citizens and will take all necessary steps to protect their rights,” the city said.
Except, this commitment has not been apparent through the actions of authorities.
This dispute has been allowed to continue for this long, with no effective resolution, despite its implications for ordinary people.
It is unclear to us how two public entities, meant to act in the public interest, are unable to use existing frameworks to prove or disprove alleged discrepancies in their billing calculations.
Should Eskom follow through with its notice to cut supply, this will take us back to the dark days of rolling blackouts.
Only this time, the cause will not be complex engineering technicalities.
It will be a failure of leadership to resolve disputes in the interest of the consumer.
SOWETAN SAYS | Leadership has failed Joburg City
Image: Supplied
Joburg is anything but a world-class African city it purports to be.
Public infrastructure is falling apart. Water and electricity blackouts are commonplace, widespread and consistent.
There appears to be no confidence-boosting plan showing that those in charge are capable and committed to solving these problems.
For days on end, different communities raise the alarm about poor services to which there are no real answers and no accountability.
Eskom’s warning salvo on Thursday that it would cut off electricity supply to Joburg must be seen in the context of this leadership failure by the city.
The power entity served a notice of intention to interrupt the power supply to the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) and City Power at certain pre-determined times of the day.
The entity said it was owed an amount of R4.9bn by the city for bulk electricity.
“Despite all the avenues that Eskom explored and efforts to accommodate the CoJ, the matter has reached a point where Eskom can simply no longer afford to accommodate the CoJ without putting further financial strain on and harming its own business.”
The city has since demanded that Eskom retract its notice, stating it is unjust and counterproductive.
It maintained its claim that it was being over-billed by Eskom – a long-standing issue at the centre of the legal dispute between the two organisations.
“The people of Johannesburg deserve reliable and efficient services, we will not let Eskom’s actions compromise their well-being. We remain committed to serving the best interests of our citizens and will take all necessary steps to protect their rights,” the city said.
Except, this commitment has not been apparent through the actions of authorities.
This dispute has been allowed to continue for this long, with no effective resolution, despite its implications for ordinary people.
It is unclear to us how two public entities, meant to act in the public interest, are unable to use existing frameworks to prove or disprove alleged discrepancies in their billing calculations.
Should Eskom follow through with its notice to cut supply, this will take us back to the dark days of rolling blackouts.
Only this time, the cause will not be complex engineering technicalities.
It will be a failure of leadership to resolve disputes in the interest of the consumer.
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