03/06/2026
CITY POWER SAYS ONLY ONE COUNCILLOR PAYS FOR ELECTRICITY IN ALEXANDRA.
City Power has revealed that only one councillor in Alexandra is paying for electricity. The utility says non-compliant officials will face disconnections as part of a broader crackdown.
City Power has sounded the alarm over councillors in Alexandra who are failing to pay for electricity, revealing that only one councillor is compliant.
Speaking at a business customers’ engagement event in Alexandra on 2 June, City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said councillors must practise what they preach. While councillors encourage residents to buy electricity, Mangena revealed that most of them are not paying for their own consumption.
“One of the issues we want councillors to assist with is revenue collection to ensure that residents are actually buying their electricity. But you cannot have councillors preaching payment when they are not practising it,” Mangena said.
He added that the utility has identified councillors who are not purchasing electricity and will begin disconnecting them from early next week.
“We know them, we know their addresses, and that is why we are going to ensure that they are disconnected. When we say ‘practise what we preach,’ we mean it.”
Mangena said the utility will not only act against non-compliant councillors in Alexandra but will also target those across the City of Johannesburg.
“We are going to start conducting audits across Johannesburg. Some councillors are not supporting City Power or the municipality. By not paying for electricity, you are effectively stealing from the municipality and the government, and you are breaking the very laws you help make in council.”
Chair of Chairs in the City of Johannesburg, Adolph Marema, reinforced the warning, saying councillors are bound by a strict code of conduct.
“Councillors are governed by ethics statutes at both national and municipal levels. One of the rules is that you are not allowed to owe the municipality for more than 90 days without having a payment arrangement in place,” he said.
He added that electricity theft is an even more serious offence.
“That is a dismissible offence. It is criminal,” he said, adding that people cannot complain about the municipality’s revenue collection challenges while failing to contribute to that revenue.
“Lead by example. Do the right thing,” he urged.