All Article Properties:
{
"access_control": false,
"status": "publish",
"objectType": "Article",
"id": "2052160",
"signature": "Article:2052160",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-12-court-orders-municipality-to-reconnect-cradock-businessmans-electricity-in-wake-of-disconnection-spree/",
"shorturl": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2052160",
"slug": "court-orders-municipality-to-reconnect-cradock-businessmans-electricity-in-wake-of-disconnection-spree",
"contentType": {
"id": "1",
"name": "Article",
"slug": "article"
},
"views": 0,
"comments": 4,
"preview_limit": null,
"excludedFromGoogleSearchEngine": 0,
"title": "Court orders municipality to reconnect Cradock man’s electricity after ‘disconnection spree’",
"firstPublished": "2024-02-12 21:08:33",
"lastUpdate": "2024-02-13 07:28:37",
"categories": [
{
"id": "29",
"name": "South Africa",
"signature": "Category:29",
"slug": "south-africa",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/south-africa/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "Daily Maverick is an independent online news publication and weekly print newspaper in South Africa.\r\n\r\nIt is known for breaking some of the defining stories of South Africa in the past decade, including the Marikana Massacre, in which the South African Police Service killed 34 miners in August 2012.\r\n\r\nIt also investigated the Gupta Leaks, which won the 2019 Global Shining Light Award.\r\n\r\nThat investigation was credited with exposing the Indian-born Gupta family and former President Jacob Zuma for their role in the systemic political corruption referred to as state capture.\r\n\r\nIn 2018, co-founder and editor-in-chief Branislav ‘Branko’ Brkic was awarded the country’s prestigious Nat Nakasa Award, recognised for initiating the investigative collaboration after receiving the hard drive that included the email tranche.\r\n\r\nIn 2021, co-founder and CEO Styli Charalambous also received the award.\r\n\r\nDaily Maverick covers the latest political and news developments in South Africa with breaking news updates, analysis, opinions and more.",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
},
{
"id": "134172",
"name": "Maverick Citizen",
"signature": "Category:134172",
"slug": "maverick-citizen",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/maverick-citizen/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
},
{
"id": "387188",
"name": "Maverick News",
"signature": "Category:387188",
"slug": "maverick-news",
"typeId": {
"typeId": "1",
"name": "Daily Maverick",
"slug": "",
"includeInIssue": "0",
"shortened_domain": "",
"stylesheetClass": "",
"domain": "staging.dailymaverick.co.za",
"articleUrlPrefix": "",
"access_groups": "[]",
"locale": "",
"preview_limit": null
},
"parentId": null,
"parent": [],
"image": "",
"cover": "",
"logo": "",
"paid": "0",
"objectType": "Category",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/category/maverick-news/",
"cssCode": "",
"template": "default",
"tagline": "",
"link_param": null,
"description": "",
"metaDescription": "",
"order": "0",
"pageId": null,
"articlesCount": null,
"allowComments": "1",
"accessType": "freecount",
"status": "1",
"children": [],
"cached": true
}
],
"content_length": 4415,
"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court has ordered the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality to reconnect the electricity of a Cradock businessman at his house and businesses.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ben Schenk is among hundreds of householders who were included in the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality’s electricity disconnection “spree” that started last week.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Schenk said his rates accounts were paid and up to date. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“When my wife went to enquire about the reason for them blocking our prepaid meter, they created a new rates and taxes account. It wasn’t even printed as an account; it was just numbers printed on blank paper,” he said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The account shows nothing is owed and then suddenly the total shows me I owe more than R100,000.”</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more in Daily Maverick: </b><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-06-08-cradock-municipality-to-splurge-r1-4m-on-luxury-cars-for-mayor-and-speaker-despite-facing-financial-collapse/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cradock municipality to splurge R1.4m on luxury cars for mayor and speaker despite facing financial collapse</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Schenk, on the other hand, said he was owed more than R100,000 for work he had done for the municipality. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Friday, 9 February, he went to court. Two of his tenants are funeral parlours that were in a race against time to keep the bodies in their care “unaffected” by the disconnection spree. The Eastern Division of the High Court in Makhanda ordered the immediate reconnection of Schenk’s properties. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Judge Thandi Norman ordered the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality to act “in accordance with [its] debt collection by-law”, and reconnect the electricity at some of Schenk’s properties and unblock his prepaid meters at others.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She also ordered the municipality to start sending out monthly invoices to Schenk. It was a provisional order, but parts of it came into immediate effect. The municipality will have an opportunity to oppose it.</span>\r\n<h4><b>The runaround</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By Monday, 12 February, the municipality had not complied with the urgent parts of the order that were supposed to be carried out with immediate effect.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“They said I must pay and then they will pay me back, but I know I will never get my money back,” Schenk said.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are going back to Makhanda now,” Schenk said on Monday. “We want them to be held in contempt of court.”</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Sheriff had served the order on the municipality and the municipal manager, and, according to legal documentation, said that “they will discuss [the matter] with their attorneys immediately”. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Schenk’s legal team was then told that the staff that must unblock his electricity were in East London “talking to the municipal attorneys” about the court order.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just before 9pm on Monday, protesters, still angry about the continuous electricity problems in Cradock and Middelburg, had closed the N10, a major road in the Eastern Cape, with rocks and tyres. Witnesses on the scene said they were protesting over the ongoing blocking of their prepaid electricity meters.</span>\r\n\r\n<b>Read more in Daily Maverick:</b> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-03-02-shenanigans-suspicions-and-sex-crimes-in-mecs-report-on-state-of-inxuba-yethemba-municipality/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shenanigans, suspicions and sex crimes in MEC’s report on state of Inxuba Yethemba municipality</span></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In its latest audit report for the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, the Auditor-General stated that the municipality’s liabilities exceeded its assets by R469,083,192. The report warned that “material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the municipality’s ability to continue as a going concern”.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Businesses and residents in the municipality have not received municipal accounts for years, and credit control measures are hardly ever instituted to maintain an effective and efficient financial system.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eskom, which is owed R500-million by the municipality, is keeping the lights on in the municipality in terms of a court order. </span>\r\n<h4><b>Calls for province to intervene</b></h4>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last Wednesday, furious residents of Cradock and Middelburg took to the streets and congregated at municipal buildings where a security firm prevented them from seeing the mayor. Their electricity had been cut off without warning.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Democratic Alliance’s Kobus Botha has asked the MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Zolile Williams, to intervene.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We have had no response from him regarding a previous letter and a discussion we had with him about the mounting frustration and anger of residents,” Botha said. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“The political leadership of the municipality and the municipal manager must be fired, as they have abdicated their fiduciary duties.” </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There have been complaints for years that the municipality does not send out invoices for rates bills. </span><b>DM</b>",
"teaser": "Court orders municipality to reconnect Cradock man’s electricity after ‘disconnection spree’",
"externalUrl": "",
"sponsor": null,
"authors": [
{
"id": "35529",
"name": "Estelle Ellis",
"image": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/58374149_10157269559658767_6240197467992752128_n.jpg",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/author/estelle-ellis/",
"editorialName": "estelle-ellis",
"department": "",
"name_latin": ""
}
],
"description": "",
"keywords": [
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "9224",
"name": "Eastern Cape",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/eastern-cape/",
"slug": "eastern-cape",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Eastern Cape",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "46046",
"name": "Cradock",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/cradock/",
"slug": "cradock",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Cradock",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "374674",
"name": "power crisis",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/power-crisis/",
"slug": "power-crisis",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "power crisis",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "384669",
"name": "Estelle Ellis",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/estelle-ellis/",
"slug": "estelle-ellis",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "Estelle Ellis",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "398326",
"name": "dysfunctional municipalities",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/dysfunctional-municipalities/",
"slug": "dysfunctional-municipalities",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "dysfunctional municipalities",
"translations": null
}
},
{
"type": "Keyword",
"data": {
"keywordId": "414891",
"name": "municipal billing crisis",
"url": "https://staging.dailymaverick.co.za/keyword/municipal-billing-crisis/",
"slug": "municipal-billing-crisis",
"description": "",
"articlesCount": 0,
"replacedWith": null,
"display_name": "municipal billing crisis",
"translations": null
}
}
],
"short_summary": null,
"source": null,
"related": [],
"options": [],
"attachments": [
{
"id": "77029",
"name": "",
"description": "",
"focal": "50% 50%",
"width": 0,
"height": 0,
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"transforms": [
{
"x": "200",
"y": "100",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/24VxHwG8n7PPtk5oNdpq3Y8vALA=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg"
},
{
"x": "450",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/nnqhkyBUzc7n6jbHFkVsFsh5Ejg=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg"
},
{
"x": "800",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/dOQCya01gu1kj1Pe9F_3HtChdUs=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1200",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/rsOs12tJA_nAiydXw6qn2zp2SCM=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg"
},
{
"x": "1600",
"y": "0",
"url": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/ELZh65z-ZLG51oGudIWwwxq480E=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg"
}
],
"url_thumbnail": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/24VxHwG8n7PPtk5oNdpq3Y8vALA=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"url_medium": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/nnqhkyBUzc7n6jbHFkVsFsh5Ejg=/450x0/smart/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"url_large": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/dOQCya01gu1kj1Pe9F_3HtChdUs=/800x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"url_xl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/rsOs12tJA_nAiydXw6qn2zp2SCM=/1200x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"url_xxl": "https://dmcdn.whitebeard.net/i/ELZh65z-ZLG51oGudIWwwxq480E=/1600x0/smart/filters:strip_exif()/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MC-Cradock-Estelle.jpg",
"type": "image"
}
],
"summary": "A Cradock businessman, who received ‘rates accounts’ of more than R100,000 a few days after his official rates bill showed that he owed nothing to the municipality, has obtained a court order to stop the ‘electricity disconnection spree’ by the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in Cradock.\r\n",
"template_type": null,
"dm_custom_section_label": null,
"elements": [],
"seo": {
"search_title": "Court orders municipality to reconnect Cradock man’s electricity after ‘disconnection spree’",
"search_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court has ordered the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality to reconnect the electricity of a Cradock businessman at his house and bu",
"social_title": "Court orders municipality to reconnect Cradock man’s electricity after ‘disconnection spree’",
"social_description": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court has ordered the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality to reconnect the electricity of a Cradock businessman at his house and bu",
"social_image": ""
},
"cached": true,
"access_allowed": true
} 
