The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Johannesburg is deeply concerned by the worsening service delivery crisis caused by the grounding of City Power’s Test Branch Fleet. With over 500 outages per depot still unresolved, the grounding of essential vehicles has critically hampered the ability to restore power to residents across the City.
The grounding of the almost 200 vehicles, particularly the Test Branch vehicles, has left depots unable to attend to faults swiftly. This has resulted in outages escalating and delays in resolving them stretching to several days, leaving residents in distress.
Despite assurances from Mayor Dada Morero following a News24 report on 21 December 2024 that only Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) vehicles were grounded and that resolutions would be sought, it has now emerged that more vehicles across various entities are being grounded.
The DA calls on Mayor Morero to urgently intervene in this crisis by directing the relevant Members of the Mayoral Committee (MMCs) for Executive Business and Environment & Infrastructure Services (EIS) to resolve this matter immediately.
We seek clarity from the City on the following:
- What is the status of the Afrirent debt and the payment plan to address it?
- What actions is the City taking to ensure uninterrupted service delivery in City Power during this period?
- What measures will be implemented to prevent such a crisis from recurring in the future?
We will continue to hold the Executive accountable and ensure that service delivery to residents remains at the forefront of the City’s priorities.