Joburg urged to scrap fixed electricity surcharge after Ekurhuleni decision

ActionSA has thrown down the gauntlet to the City of Joburg and all Gauteng municipalities, after the Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza,  suspended the controversial fixed electricity surcharge.

Calling the Ekurhuleni decision a wake-up call to municipalities, the party's Gauteng Provincial Chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, said: 'It is no longer acceptable to balance municipal budgets by squeezing the most vulnerable residents while protecting bloated expenditure and inefficiencies in city administrations.''

This comes in the wake of public outrage and violent protests in Tembisa, where police resorted to firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds. The unrest was sparked by the City of Ekurhuleni’s implementation of new electricity tariffs, which came into effect on July 1 for the 2025/26 financial year.

ActionSA said the latest development reaffirms its long-standing position that the electricity surcharges are unjust, anti-poor, and were imposed without proper public consultation.

The party said that the halted surcharge in Ekurhuleni is similar to the R230 monthly fixed fee levied on prepaid electricity users in Johannesburg.

"These fees disproportionately affect poor and working-class households who are already battling rising food prices, unemployment, and service failures."

He further stated that ActionSA plans to write to the Speaker of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature to request public hearings on the implementation of fixed electricity charges across municipalities.

He stressed that Gauteng residents deserve to be heard, not punished, adding that the violent protests in Tembisa were both unfortunate and could have been avoided with proper public engagement.

"Leadership should never wait for protest before acting; it should act on principle and in defence of the people."

Ngubeni stressed that the ANC-EFF coalition in Johannesburg must urgently scrap the fixed electricity surcharge, which has fuelled growing frustration among residents.

In contrast, he pointed out that in Tshwane, under a coalition led by ActionSA, no such surcharge has been introduced, demonstrating that there are better, more people-centred alternatives.

Earlier this week, Minister of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa admitted that electricity prices have become unbearably high, placing a heavy burden on households who are now faced with the difficult choice between putting food on the table or keeping the lights on.

The Democratic Alliance’s Ekurhuleni caucus leader, Brandon Pretorius, said the DA firmly opposed the implementation of the surcharge from the outset, warning that it would place already struggling residents in a dire position, forcing them to choose between heating their homes or putting food on the table.

The DA also stated that they have written to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, urging the regulator to investigate what they described as flawed calculations in justifying the controversial surcharge figures.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Gauteng has expressed their solidarity with the people of Tembisa who embarked on an electricity surcharge protest on Monday morning.

The EFF has described this service charge as unreasonable because of widespread poverty and concerning unemployment figures in the region.

The Star

masabata.mkwananzi@inl.co.za