- The City of Tshwane has cut power to more than 400 homes on a Pretoria golf estate.
- The homeowners owe the City more than R16 million due to illegal electricity connections.
- The crackdown comes as the City attempts to settle its R1.6-billion debt with Eskom.
The City of Tshwane has disconnected electricity to more than 400 homes at Copperleaf Golf Estate in Pretoria in a bid to recover more than R16 million debt.
The municipality visited the estate on Tuesday and found that numerous homes had bypassed their electricity meters.
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the crackdown at the golf estate formed part of its plans to recover debt from unpaid electricity bills and illegal connections, under what the municipality calls "Amnesty Project".
The project will continue for the rest of the month and will see municipal inspectors visiting various areas in the hunt for illegal electricity connections.
"We are not targeting affluent areas. We are also going to townships," he said.
In a social media post, Copperleaf Golf Estate said every household on the estate was independently connected to electricity.
The post read:
"Copperleaf Country Estate would like to set the record straight, that Copperleaf does not owe money to [City of Tshwane]. However, some individual homeowners at Copperleaf are indebted to [City of Tshwane] in their personal capacity," it added.
Everyhouse household at Copperleaf is connected independently to the @CityTshwaneCopperleaf pays for the electricity for common areas like the Clubhouse, golf course, parks irrigation etc. and got nothing to do with individual homeowners
— CopperleafEstateSA (@copperleaf_sa) September 6, 2022
Mashigo said the debt accumulated by residents of the golf estate was significant compared to other defaulters.
"Our top 10 customers who are infrequent payers have a debt of between R300 000 and R500 000, so it's a huge amount."
There's a difference between being posh and being rich ??. Busy disconnecting all illegal connections at #Copperleaf Golf Estate. Copperleaf residents owe us a total of R16 million. 600 houses to be disconnected. #StopStealing #CoTRevenueCollection pic.twitter.com/UL3smVpno8
— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) September 6, 2022
The City has been at loggerheads with Eskom over unpaid electricity bills. Last month, Eskom threatened to disconnect power to the capital city after the municipality was late paying off its debt of R1.6 billion.
"We are making daily payments to Eskom ranging between R20 million to R90 million. In order for us to settle the account, customers must pay for the services rendered. Non-payers are part [of] the problem," the City said in a social media post.