Court power play pays off for Tshwane

PRETORIA is set to replace thousands of electricity meters after the High Court ruled that the contract for their procurement was invalid, an official said yesterday. Cilliers Brink, member of the mayoral committee of Tshwane, said the city did not want the meters provided by service-provider PEU and its subsidiary, TUMS. The deal was reached by the ANC, which previously ran the municipality before Brink’s opposition DA snatched power last year. “We propose to replace the almost 13 000 meters with our own to ensure value for money and (so) that the people of Tshwane receive sustainable, reliable and affordable electricity supply,” said Brink. Last month the High Court overturned all agreements between PEU/ TUMS and the city after an application brought by lobby groups AfriForum and AfriBusiness in 2013. The court ordered that the R950 million placed in a special trust account set up to purchase PEU’s infrastructure be released to the Tshwane municipality immediately. Brink said the judgment was “a massive victory for clean tender processes, and value for ratepayers’ money”. – ANA