The DA in eThekwini urgently calls on the Head of Electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, to confirm the extent of the attachment of the unit’s equipment, vehicles and any other tools of trade, attached by the Sheriff of the court in terms of a court order. The attachment and removal at the electricity unit’s headquarters was recorded by staff members and onlookers and the head must urgently provide a way forward on how they will mitigate the adverse impact on electricity supply and escalation of faults in the municipality.
This after we have received frantic voice notes and messages passed between staff members of the eThekwini Municipality electricity unit, from earlier this morning as their offices were allegedly being raided by the Sheriff of the Court, in a successful attempt to attach movable assets.
According to reports, the warrant of execution cited a judgement in the sum of R43 277 260.27, of which R 30 000 000.00 was the principal debt and a further R13 277 266.27 constituting the interest thereon. It appears that the matter between Double Daily Trading, trading as Pholobas Projects – a “tender entrepreneur” – has been in court for years and is now at execution stage.
It is unfathomable how the unit or the city’s legal compliance unit would allow the situation to reach this stage. A report on this matter particularly on the judgement was never tabled at any committee, EXCO or even council for consideration, despite it clearly being months old. The document reveals a court date stamp for May 2022, which infers that the legal unit representing the city were clearly expecting that this was inevitable if the judgement was not satisfied.
Staff appear very concerned about whether they will get paid next month or thereafter as all pay & leave sections computers were attached and removed.
The attachment of critical computers and vehicles which form the backbone of service delivery the ailing unit metered out previously, may mean that the unit is now even more crippled. At this stage we are unsure how far reaching or devastating this will be on the delivery of services in this unit. We need answers on how the unit will cope with these tremendous losses and how it will impact service delivery.
The ANC has failed at every turn in leading this city. The people eThekwini have been let down and fleeced in every way imaginable.