Power cuts necessary to force farmers to sign new contracts

Date: 17 April 2015 By: Andries van Zyl

The Makhado Municipality had several farm owners up in arms when their electricity supply was abruptly cut off during March.

Despite a possible loss in production, the increased safety risk due to security systems' being rendered useless also had some farm owners fuming. “We were not warned that the power to our farms was going to be cut,” said one irate farmer, who asked to remain anonymous.

Municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi confirmed during the past week that the municipality had indeed disconnected the power supply to some farms from 16 to 20 March. This was done “due to the fact that owners and or users of electricity did not respond to finalise their supply and wayleave agreements with the municipality which have been outstanding for many years,” Bobodi said.

A total of six farms (supply points) were affected by the power cuts and, said Bobodi, the municipality had done everything in their power to inform the affected farmers of their intention. “Regrettably, some users changed their telephone numbers without informing the municipality. In some instances, users other than the one registered are also using the electricity without informing the municipality, which is illegal,” Bobodi said.

According to Bobodi, all farm owners in the Makhado electrical distribution area should have a supply and wayleave agreement in place with the municipality as supplier. This, Bobodi said, was necessary as electricity was a dangerous service and because it was operated and maintained on privately owned land/farms, it must be regulated in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Electricity Act and other legislation and by-laws. “It must also be mentioned that for years it has been required, and it is still the case,” Bobodi said.

As far as could be determined, all new land owners who took ownership of a farm after June 2012 must now, however, sign a new supply and wayleave agreement with the municipality. “Electricity is being used by people other than the owners without proper agreements or, in some cases, users only change the addresses and still use electricity illegally in someone else’s name without the updated current fees or deposits,” Bobodi said.

Bobodi said it was not enough for an address change to be made or an account to be opened in the new owner’s name. “A formal supply and wayleave agreement must be signed in order to comply with safety legislation. It is alarming how many farms where electricity is supplied, changes had been made illegally to the capacity, position of the supply point or severe cases of tampering with the registration of the energy (meters),” Bobodi said.

He further explained that some customers opted to redeem the assets [pay for the electrical infrastructure] over 20 years and therefore an agreement to that effect had to be concluded. “Many cases are now being discovered where the actual capital for supply points has not yet been redeemed, which means that the customer had received the assets free of charge. The municipality has therefore adopted a resolution that all changes in ownership or users of electricity on rural farms and villages, by means of agreements, shall be physically investigated, reconciled to the records and consulted with the new owners\users to correct the legal process and recover the arrears of outstanding capital and maintenance fees,” Bobodi said.

The power supply to the six farms was eventually restored. “After consultation and agreements reached with the affected parties, the power was restored and will again be disconnected if the agreements reached by consultation are not honoured,” Bobodi said.

As for the safety aspect of the abrupt power cuts, Bobodi said that the municipality was mindful of the security situation on farms, but that they had gone to such extremes (cutting the power supply) to elicit a response from customers who were not cooperating. 

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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