Note to Editors: Please find the complaint to the Public Protector attached here
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mogale City has referred the adjusted electricity rates and tariff structure in the Mogale City Local Municipality to the Public Protector for investigation.
On the 26th of June 2024, reduced tariff increases of 12.74% was approved by council, only for an additional item to be tabled on the 31st of July 2024, that in some cases will quintuple the amount domestic rate payers will have to pay.
More concerning than that, however, is the fact that the executive initially tabled a budget that did not meet NERSA’s prescripts, they followed this up with an emergency item to be compliant. After the start of the new financial year, which is illegal.
Here, you can find what was tabled in council, alongside what has been uploaded onto the municipality’s website, clearly indicating their desperate ploy to make the City compliant.
The municipality is now non-compliant with the Municipal Finance Management Act, as there was no public participation process on the restructuring. With no regard for residents facing a cost-of-living crisis, the executive is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of both council, and NERSA.
The Executive Mayor of Mogale City, Alderman Thupane has gone out of his way to ensure that the increased tariff structures are hidden from rate payers, and smuggled through amendments to his budget that will have dire consequences for the residents of Mogale City. When residents receive their accounts next week, will Ald. Thupane be the one to answer the queries of residents faced with an unaffordable increase in their rates and taxes?
We have written to the Public Protector for exactly this reason. There exists no regard for Mogale City residents in the executive, and we urge intervention to ensure that adequate public participation takes place. Residents have a right to be heard. We will continue to put the residents of Mogale City first, while fighting for their rights in the face of an administration that, evidently, does not care.