INLSA
FILE PICTURE
The Msunduzi municipality accused a prominent Pietermaritzburg attorney of the theft of electricity and of housing tenants illegally, in papers filed in the city’s high court yesterday.
But attorney Surendra Singh insisted there was nothing wrong in his using the bulk meter at one of his buildings to provide electricity at another.
A few weeks ago, Singh successfully brought an urgent application forcing the municipality to reconnect the electricity supply to a building he owned, called Shepstone House.
Upon being served with the court order, the municipality launched a counter-application for the tenants of the building to be vacated.
This order has not yet been granted, but the tenants have been allowed to join the application and express their views.
The municipality had also sought the court’s permission to inspect the bulk meter and electrical connections at another of Singh’s buildings, adjacent to Shepstone House, called the Nedbank building, which was granted.
Msunduzi’s municipal manager, Mxolisi Nkosi, said in the latest application that the electricity supply to Shepstone had been disconnected in April as the building was considered unsafe and did not have an occupancy certificate.
The 13-storey building accommodated 20 residents from the second to ninth floors, while the rest of the floors were being used as offices.
Nkosi said that, during an inspection of the building in May, it was found that, while the electricity supply was still disconnected, the lights in the building were on.
Not safe
This led officials to believe that power was coming from another building.
“I should say it is illegal to source one property with electricity from another, and even more so if the meters are being bypassed – therefore causing the connection to be illegal. The resultant use of electricity is therefore a theft of electricity which is not being metered or paid for,” said Nkosi.
He said the municipality could not restore the electricity to the meter room of the building as not only was the cable disconnected, there was no meter.
“The room is also not safe for the supply of electricity. Restoration of the supply will result in death, severe damage or fire.
“The meter room does not comply with the safety standards or any other regulation and can’t be supplied with electricity,” he said.
Singh admitted that he had used the bulk meter from the Nedbank building to provide electricity to Shepstone and saw nothing wrong in his actions.
The electricity was still being regulated, metered and paid for, he said.
“Nkosi does not have any authority to say that it is illegal to source electricity from one property to another where the same owner or owners associated with each other owns both the properties… he makes vague statements of meters being bypassed and the theft of electricity,” said Singh.
While acknowledging that he did not have an occupation certificate, Singh said it was not his fault as the delay rested with the municipality.
He also said the building was safe for occupation.
Singh added that he had been told by a municipal employee that Nkosi wanted the building to be shut down completely – and that officials “must do whatever it takes to shut down the building”.
