DOCRRA is pleased to share that the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), subsequent to our complaint, has advised us that they will undertake a Compliance Audit of KDM in the following communication:
“Kindly be advised that NERSA will not be able to provide conclusive responses on the matters raised (by DOCRRA) based only on the information provided by KwaDukuza Local Municipality.
NERSA has therefore decided that a Compliance Audit will be conducted so that a conclusive report will be provided which will then respond to all the issues raised by DOCRRA. Especially because KwaDukuza Local Municipality was last audited by NERSA in 2014.
NERSA will engage KwaDukuza Local Municipality and set up dates when this Compliance Audit will be conducted within the next quarter.”
We are delighted with this news and grateful to NERSA for hearing the cries of our residents. We look forward to the start of the audit and will keep the community updated each step of the way.
On 13 March 2024, the MEC for the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, authorised a forensic investigation into KwaDukuza Municipality. This announcement followed a DOCRRA meeting with COGTA on 7 February 2024, where we were invited to present and discuss our concerns for our municipality with them. The electricity crisis was the first item on our agenda. We spent a significant portion of this meeting outlining the seriousness of the situation, as well as the impact on the community. We highlighted the complete lack of communication between KDM and residents, as well as the absence of municipal leaders to provide oversight.
We also raised other issues such as the abuse of municipal resources, non-functional ward committees, and the intimidation of members of civil society.
We welcome this investigation and expect full cooperation from KDM officials, as well as the appropriate consequence management implementation following its conclusion. Our thanks go out to our KwaDukuza Organised Residents Alliance (KORA) partners, and especially Warwick Chapman from KwaDukuza Residents Forum (KDRF), who attended the meeting with us. We also want to thank our ward councillors who have also tirelessly appealed to COGTA for oversight into these matters.
In the wake of the worst part of the crisis, DOCRRA submitted five PAIA requests to KDM for information to better understand its cause and to gather data to prevent it from happening again. The requests were for maintenance logs and plans, previous electrical infrastructure audits, a full asset register and schematic, a log of faults and repairs from the outset of the crisis, and a complete list of vacancies with organogram.
Some of these requests were answered in part, and others ignored entirely. We have submitted correspondence to follow up on the missing information. We also received a commitment from ED Jali and Pam Govender (head of legal department) at the final MPAC meeting, that the balance of the information would be submitted by 25 March 2025. What has been obtained has been shared with the iLembe Chamber of Commerce Task Team.
The KDM Southern Electrical Network Task Team, organized by the iLembe Chamber of Commerce, brought together private sector professionals, Chamber members, representatives from DOCRRA and KDM, as well as management of residential estates to begin to prioritise the most urgent interventions to ensure a stable energy supply over the Easter festive period.
Funding for several of these interventions has been obtained through the Adjustment Budget process, and projects are underway. Their next meeting is scheduled for this week on 18 March 2024. Our thanks go out to our partners at iLembe Chamber and to Cobus Oelofse for leading the charge with this team. We look forward to their feedback from this upcoming meeting.
The North Coast community, and KwaDukuza residents at large, are witnessing the unfolding of unprecedented strides in co-governance between private and public sectors, as well as civil society, in the fight to solve this crisis. The appropriate municipal oversight bodies (NERSA and COGTA) have heard our call for intervention and are taking decisive action to hold our elected and appointed leaders to account.
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