The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg, welcomes the commitment by the Member of the Mayoral Cabinet (MMC) for Finances, Dada Morero, to review the R200 electricity surcharge.
This, however, is in direct contradiction with the mayor’s stance on this very same issue. His view was, and I quote “The surcharge is here to stay”.
While we understand that it might be difficult for an executive to always be on the same page, we urge the City of Johannesburg’s (CoJ) Executive to speak from the same mouth on contentious issues, that have very real implications for the residents of the City.
The DA’s petition to scrap the newly introduced electricity surcharge has reached almost 15 000 signatures in less than 5 days. It is evident that the rate payers in the city were not consulted effectively in the consideration of this surcharge.
In this spirit, we welcome MMC Morero’s commitment to review this unreasonable additional tax imposed upon the City.
We will hold him to account, and ensure that he follows through on this commitment. Scrap the Johannesburg Surcharge.
The DA will always be on the side of good governance, and effective management of the city’s funds – which, had it been managed correctly would not have necessitated the executive to introduce the additional surcharge.