Mthatha residents in the Eastern Cape have threatened to take the King Sabatha Dalindyebo municipality to court over exorbitant electricity tariffs.
The municipality outsourced electricity services to a service provider known as Umthiza but residents allege that they are forced to pay double through the service provider.
Residents have now started the #UmthizaMustFall campaign to challenge what they call a scam by their own municipality.
Mthatha West is a densely populated settlement in King Sabatha Dalindyebo municipality and is one of 10 municipal wards where residents have complained of high electricity tariffs.
Some electricity users say they have stopped using electric appliances, opting to use firewood, gas cylinders as sources of energy instead.
The #UmthizaMustFall campaign chairperson, Phikolomzi Adonisi, says they’ve decided to challenge the alleged exploitation of the poor in court, as they believe that the municipality is conniving with Umthiza in scamming them.
Adonisi says, “Between us and Eskom there are two middlemen, the municipality and the vendors which are retailers that are selling electricity, all of the three have got their markups. So if you buy electricity for R100.00 for example, you get about 40 units. Those who are in the CBD buy R1000 electricity and they get about 300 units, you can see that that is way beyond the way people are living.”
#UmthizaMustFall activists want the matter resolved through the courts.
“We want the court to determine our constitutional right, where we are saying as the customers we want to buy straight from Eskom as a source of electricity. That is why we are saying it’s a scam and let the court decide for us if we can not use our constitutional rights,” added Adonisi.
The #UmthizaMustFall activists say inflation of electricity tariffs infringes on human rights.
Numerous attempts by the SABC to solicit a response from the King Sabatha Dalindyebo municipality about the complaints and its relationship with the Umthiza entity were unsuccessful.
Stage 2 load shedding will be implemented at 17:00 this afternoon until 23:00 on Friday
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