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The DA received confirmation that the CENTLEC tariff increases, so adamantly fought for by the corrupt ANC, was in contravention of license conditions.

This confirmation gives credence to our opposition of the tariff increase.

On the 29th of June 2021 the former Chief Financial Officer for the Mangaung Metro and now current DA Mangaung Councillor, Hans Britz, argued against increasing CENTLEC’s block tariffs. The ANC-led Council however steamrolled this for approval.

The DA argued against the increase for the following reasons:

It could not be verified whether the tariffs were approved by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA).

The new block tariff increases were not part of the budget that was open to the public for participation. It is therefore procedurally wrong.

Today, it has been proven that the DA Mangaung Caucus had reasons for concern and that we needed to fight the tariff increases as correspondence from NERSA to CENTLEC shows.

Attached is a letter from Adv Nomalanga Sithole, Acting Chief Executive Officer of NERSA, for the attention of Mr. M Sekoboto, Chief Executive Officer of CENTLEC, confirming that – and as alluded to by the DA – CENTLEC cannot implement tariffs without the approval of NERSA. It was in contravention of the licence conditions issued by NERSA.

It was the DA who brought these facts to the attention of the residents of Mangaung as well as several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Public Formations. We need to thank the public, NGOs and Public Formations for assisting us to place pressure on the ANC to rectify this reprehensible act.

The DA Mangaung Caucus will continue the fight for our residents to safeguard them against these reprehensible acts of the ANC-led metro and to provide proper basic services.

We remind our residents that the Local Government Elections on the 27th of October this year will be the best opportunity for residents to shape the future of Mangaung by voting for a party that has the willingness and the ability to bring change and deliver services.

Issued by The DA