Some 18,000 electricity thieves in Nelson Mandela Bay have come forward to apply for the municipality’s amnesty, though the city continues to struggle with 42,000 more illegal connections.
Rampant electricity theft remains at the heart of the Bay’s loss of more than R651m in revenue during the 2020/2021 financial year.
Responding to the 2020/2021 auditor-general’s report during a municipal public accounts committee meeting on Monday, electricity and energy boss Luvuyo Magalela said of the R651m, 15.6% stemmed from illegal connections, coupled with faulty and tampered meters.
The remainder has been linked to technical issues.
The losses have increased over the years, moving from R370m in the 2018/2019 financial year to R558.62m in the 2019/2020 financial year.
The theft has cost the metro revenue it desperately needs.
Magalela warned that the losses would continue to increase as lawlessness in the city rises.
“This lawlessness is increasing every day.
“The amount of lawlessness happens with land invasions and people connecting to street lights.”
He said it was becoming dangerous for officials to disconnect illegal connections as they were attacked by residents.
The municipality launched its amnesty programme in February, offering electricity thieves a 90-day period in which they could come forward to escape punishment.
Failure to do so would have resulted in them being fined between R4,000 and R12,000.
As a means to try to reduce the losses, the committee recommended that the council reconsider reopening the amnesty period.
DA councillor Malcolm Figg said the metro needed an extensive public awareness drive on the amnesty.
“We cannot just rely on radio and public meetings,” Figg said.
“As it stands, we are purchasing more electricity and selling less.”
It was also suggested that the Assistance To The Poor (ATTP) programme be expanded to offer discounts to residents who could not afford the tariffs.
“The ATTP beneficiaries have actually decreased while unemployment is increasing. It is not correlating,” Figg said.
Councillors’ tempers flared when the committee addressed water losses in the city, as no official from the water and infrastructure department was available to brief the meeting.
The committee’s chair and EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha condemned the absence and demanded that officials from the department address the next meeting.
Enough water to almost fill up both the Churchill and Groendal dams was lost in the Bay during the 2020/2021 financial year.
This arguably could have pushed day zero back by months as the city recorded that 43,349 megalitres (ML) of water, worth R214m, went down the drain.
This accounts for about 40% of all water used in the Bay during the period under review.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said it was unacceptable that residents were expected to cut back on water with punitive measures while the municipality failed to repair leaks.
“Residents are trying their best to save water while the city is losing 34.9ML per day.
“That is a serious concern. Every year they give us the same explanation.”
The auditor-general’s report was presented by Thembela Mseleni, who raised two material findings as reasons for the municipality’s qualified audit opinion.
These included no proper records of property and equipment and unauthorised expenditure amounting to R1.4bn.
This is the municipality’s tenth consecutive qualified audit opinion.
A qualified opinion is an auditor’s opinion that the financials are fairly presented, with the exception of specified areas.
The property and equipment finding has occurred since 2016, with the municipality unable to give a clear account of its assets worth R17.7bn.
But chief financial officer Selywn Thys said the long-standing issues could be realistically cleared by the 2022/2023 financial year.
“I do want to say it is only in the 2022/2023 financial year that we can realistically target an unqualified audit opinion in terms of assessing what is happening on the ground,” he said.
HeraldLIVE
Thousands of Nelson Mandela Bay electricity thieves apply for amnesty
Image: MICHAEL KIMBERLEY
Some 18,000 electricity thieves in Nelson Mandela Bay have come forward to apply for the municipality’s amnesty, though the city continues to struggle with 42,000 more illegal connections.
Rampant electricity theft remains at the heart of the Bay’s loss of more than R651m in revenue during the 2020/2021 financial year.
Responding to the 2020/2021 auditor-general’s report during a municipal public accounts committee meeting on Monday, electricity and energy boss Luvuyo Magalela said of the R651m, 15.6% stemmed from illegal connections, coupled with faulty and tampered meters.
The remainder has been linked to technical issues.
The losses have increased over the years, moving from R370m in the 2018/2019 financial year to R558.62m in the 2019/2020 financial year.
The theft has cost the metro revenue it desperately needs.
Magalela warned that the losses would continue to increase as lawlessness in the city rises.
“This lawlessness is increasing every day.
“The amount of lawlessness happens with land invasions and people connecting to street lights.”
He said it was becoming dangerous for officials to disconnect illegal connections as they were attacked by residents.
The municipality launched its amnesty programme in February, offering electricity thieves a 90-day period in which they could come forward to escape punishment.
Failure to do so would have resulted in them being fined between R4,000 and R12,000.
As a means to try to reduce the losses, the committee recommended that the council reconsider reopening the amnesty period.
DA councillor Malcolm Figg said the metro needed an extensive public awareness drive on the amnesty.
“We cannot just rely on radio and public meetings,” Figg said.
“As it stands, we are purchasing more electricity and selling less.”
It was also suggested that the Assistance To The Poor (ATTP) programme be expanded to offer discounts to residents who could not afford the tariffs.
“The ATTP beneficiaries have actually decreased while unemployment is increasing. It is not correlating,” Figg said.
Councillors’ tempers flared when the committee addressed water losses in the city, as no official from the water and infrastructure department was available to brief the meeting.
The committee’s chair and EFF councillor Khanya Ngqisha condemned the absence and demanded that officials from the department address the next meeting.
Enough water to almost fill up both the Churchill and Groendal dams was lost in the Bay during the 2020/2021 financial year.
This arguably could have pushed day zero back by months as the city recorded that 43,349 megalitres (ML) of water, worth R214m, went down the drain.
This accounts for about 40% of all water used in the Bay during the period under review.
ACDP councillor Lance Grootboom said it was unacceptable that residents were expected to cut back on water with punitive measures while the municipality failed to repair leaks.
“Residents are trying their best to save water while the city is losing 34.9ML per day.
“That is a serious concern. Every year they give us the same explanation.”
The auditor-general’s report was presented by Thembela Mseleni, who raised two material findings as reasons for the municipality’s qualified audit opinion.
These included no proper records of property and equipment and unauthorised expenditure amounting to R1.4bn.
This is the municipality’s tenth consecutive qualified audit opinion.
A qualified opinion is an auditor’s opinion that the financials are fairly presented, with the exception of specified areas.
The property and equipment finding has occurred since 2016, with the municipality unable to give a clear account of its assets worth R17.7bn.
But chief financial officer Selywn Thys said the long-standing issues could be realistically cleared by the 2022/2023 financial year.
“I do want to say it is only in the 2022/2023 financial year that we can realistically target an unqualified audit opinion in terms of assessing what is happening on the ground,” he said.
HeraldLIVE
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