DA ad star ‘in the dark’
May 17 2011 at 07:29am
By Metro Writer
INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS
Ntombikayise Lugalo, who appeared in a DA campaign advertisement, at home in Tambo Square. Photo: Neil Baynes
Related Stories
DA stands by controversial ad
Ntombi Lugalo, who stars in a DA election advert telling of how the party had supplied electricity to her neighbourhood, does not have a supply of her own, but buys power from a neighbour through an informal connection, the legality of which is in doubt.
Lugalo has an electric lead running from her shack to her neighbour’s, which is connected to the Eskom grid.
As such, she says she doesn’t get the monthly 50kWh of free electricity given to poor people with electricity connections, as the DA claimed.
“I don’t own my own box so I can’t get that free 50kWh. But this has nothing to do with the advert,” Lugalo said, speaking from a nearby voting station in the area. “I get my electricity from Mandisa my neighbour,” she said.
Lugalo, of Tambo Square, Gugulethu, spoke to the Cape Times on Monday after a row that erupted last week when local residents and ANC leaders in the area said she didn’t have her own electricity connection.
She said as soon as she received a formal house she wouldn’t have to tap into her neighbour’s supply.
On the way to her shack to show the Cape Times her connection on Monday, two women prevented her from doing so, saying she couldn’t be photographed, before bundling her into a car and driving off.
Asked about the legality of her connection, the Cape Town City Council’s utility services Mayco member Clive Justus said informal settlements had their own legalities handled by the city and Eskom.
“Issues of illegal connections are not easily resolved,” he said.
But he declined to respond to a city by-law which states: “Resellers shall comply with the licensing and registration requirements set out in the Electricity Regulation Act and regulations issued under this act. Unless otherwise authorised by the director, no person shall sell or supply electricity, supplied to his/her premises under an agreement with the service provider, to any other person or persons for use on any other premises, or permit or suffer such resale or supply to take place. If electricity is resold for use upon the same premises, the electricity resold shall be measured by a sub-meter of a type which has been approved by the South African Bureau of Standards and supplied, installed and programmed in accordance with the standards of the service provider.”
Justus said he would respond fully “in due course”.
But DA strategist Ryan Coetzee, responsible for the DA’s election advertisements, said Lugalo was well within her rights and her electricity connection was in compliance with the city’s electricity supply by-law.
“The feed from (neighbour) Mandisa’s home to Ntombi Lugalo’s home is both safe and legal. I visited Ntombi once again today and can verify that the feed runs directly from Mandisa’s ‘box’ or board to Ntombi’s home.
“It is properly sealed. I have once again confirmed with alderman Justus of the City of Cape Town that the feed is also legal because it runs through a legally installed board,” Coetzee said. - Cape Times
