Sakeliga set to enter battle over municipal electricity distribution
Afrikaans business organisation Sakeliga has instructed its lawyers to
apply to be joined as amicus curiae in a case concerning the South African
Local Government Association (Salga)
Salga, which is a body representing South Africa’s municipalities, is objecting to Eskom and private suppliers supplying electricity directly to end-users without an authorising agreement with the relevant municipalities.
It is requesting a declaratory order to grant municipalities exclusive rights to distribute electricity within their jurisdictions.
Sakeliga’s Tian Alberts says that they do not believe municipalities should have such exclusive rights.
“We are opposed to the proposition that municipalities should enjoy such exclusive rights to be the middleman without exception in the supply and distribution of electricity.”
Alberts says if Salga does get the order it would be severely detrimental to end-users in poorly functioning municipalities.
“More important, is that the monopoly on electricity supply that Salga wishes to bring about for municipalities through court processes, could be severely detrimental to end-users in decayed municipalities where the municipalities currently simply are not paying Eskom.”
“Decayed municipalities that cannot meet their financial obligations or render services, should not be a middleman through which the end-user must buy goods and services such as electricity.”
The SALGA case was filed at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on 14 September 2021 and Alberts says that Sakeliga will closely monitor developments and will in due course file its application to be joined as amicus curiae.
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