Jozi faces Christmas in the dark
THE City of Joburg is in a crisis and might not be able to keep the lights on in parts of the city this festive season as City Power subcontractors refuse to work without payment.
The Star understands that the subcontractors have not been paid for at least three months by the cashstrapped city. Most of the subcontractors have had to take out loans to ensure the survival of their businesses, but some have complained that they will be having a dark Christmas should they not receive their payments.
The co-owner of a subcontracted company said that workers had even threatened to seize office equipment if they were not paid before Christmas. The businesswoman, who asked not to be named said the situation was so bad that she had received a call from the family of one of her employees demanding money.
“This child called me and said I am the reason he does not have shoes because his father has not been paid for months. What do I say to that child? This is a terrible situation. The city keeps saying we will be paid on different dates, but it never happens.”
The subcontractor said she was owed about R1 million by City Power. She said she had no choice but to tell her staff to down tools until there was clarity on payments.
“They cannot keep the lights on in Johannesburg without us. The south was dark for a number of days, and they took time fixing the problems because they do not have capacity," she said.
The Star understands things were so bad that the Metro buses in the coming days would not be able to afford diesel for their buses. Contractors with the Human Settlements Department would also not be able to complete housing projects because of the non-payment.
The multiparty government has been quoted on numerous occasions as saying there is no service delivery crisis, just a “cash flow mismatch”, but residents are starting to feel the pinch.
Mayor Mpho Phalatse has failed on numerous occasions to get a R2 billion short-term loan approved in council. She had said this loan would enable the municipality to meet its commitments to service providers, but the opposition in council has, in large numbers, opposed the loan.
It was still not clear how the city would meet its financial commitments, but the multiparty government said all city employees would receive their salaries and a 13th cheque.
Meanwhile, in a statement, City Power said it had deployed a large contingent of electricians to ensure that the city’s power grid is stable despite some contractors downing tools.
“City Power will, on Thursday (yesterday), deploy 52 newly appointed electricians to lessen the entity’s reliance on contractors and foster area-specific accountability in the Johannesburg power network,” the entity said in a statement.