City Power puts izinyoka in jail

17 November 2016

 

City Power, the City of Johannesburg’s electricity utility, has reported a total of 874 cases of fraud and corruption to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) since it declared zero tolerance on the crimes four years ago.

 

This was revealed by City Power Managing Director Sicelo Xulu during the International Fraud Awareness Week at the Riversands Incubation Hub.

The International Fraud Awareness Week, which is observed annually in 175 countries, is a global effort aimed at minimising the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education. City Power’s successes against the scourge, according to Xulu, included the arrest of a senior City Power manager and the conviction of 274 people during this period.

Xulu said the fight against corruption had not been easy but the power utility had made tremendous progress that had resulted in wrongdoers facing “the consequences of their actions”.

“The fight against fraud and corruption has been a journey,” Xulu told a panel discussion.

He said City Power was committed to doing business in an ethical manner at all times. Xulu said the entity was confronted with a number of challenges. These included illegal connections – especially in informal settlements – cable theft, vandalism and meter tampering.

“As an organisation we invest a lot of time to ensure that we look after our consumers. But we have found people who convert from billed to prepaid electricity without the assistance of City Power officials. Others remove the metering devices so they cannot billed,” said Xulu.

Cable theft costs the country’s economy billions of rand every year. Xulu said City Power experienced more than 2 000 incidents of cable theft a year, contributing to at least 45% to the incidences of power outages “because the electricity becomes strained”.

He said the entity had introduced a number of programmes to create awareness of the consequences of fraud and corruption and the theft of electricity.

“The SAPS and the Johannesburg Metro Police Department have come on board to help us with the fight against corruption,” said Xulu.

He said the power utility had also come up with several initiatives to minimise cable theft and vandalism. These initiatives included the move from copper to aluminium.