Latest news with #R357
The Citizen
8 hours ago
- The Citizen
Elderly man stabbed and robbed in Marloth Park
A 68-year-old man, who relies on a portable life-support machine due to a lung condition, was stabbed during a house robbery at Marloth Park in Komatipoort on Saturday, June 7. The criminals made off with more than R300 000 worth of property. According to the Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane, the elderly man was at home with his wife (64) at about 20:00 when he heard a knock outside. ALSO READ: Man dies in attempted robbery in Hazyview 'After checking and seeing no one, he continued to hear the knocking. As he walked around inside the house to investigate, three unknown men entered the house through the bedroom door, which they had forced to open. 'One suspect was armed with a gun, another with a knife and the third appeared unarmed. The old man was stabbed during the incident and pushed onto the bed by one suspect, while another suspect held his wife at gunpoint and demanding money,' said Ndubane. Ndubane said the suspects fled the scene with R180 000 in cash , $10 000 (about R177 000), a firearm and two airguns. The estimated total value of the stolen property is approximately R357 000. ALSO READ: Two attempted robbery suspects arrested: Caught in ceiling of Mbombela music studio The police are appealing to members of the public for any information that may lead to the identification and arrest of the suspects. Contact Sergeant Moses Thobela on 082 449 0272, Crime Stop on 08600 10111 or use the My SAPS app. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
28-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Mayor defends water tariff increase while providing free water to vulnerable families
Left: Ilembe District Municipal Manager Sazi Mbhele, Mayor Thobani Shandu, and Director of Technical Services Ncingisa Mbole at the media briefing on Wednesday to clarify budget decisions. Image: Supplied As part of a response to the Democratic Alliance's demands for the 0% water tariff increase, the water-stricken Ilembe District Municipality has decided to supply 10,000 litres to poor households every month. In a R1.6 billion budget tabled by the district mayor, Thobani Shandu, on Tuesday, the municipality approved a revised 13% increase from 13.5%, which was initially proposed, dismissing the DA's demand as highly unreasonable. The mayor said it was not feasible not to increase the water tariff while Umngeni-Uthukela Water, which sells water to municipalities, has raised tariffs by 13%. Shandu said the municipality believes that more than 30% of the approximately 700,000 people living in the district will receive free water under the 10,000 litres cushion. The mayor said there would be a drive to encourage the poor households to register under indigent programmes so that their financial status would be assessed and be placed under the programme. 'It was impossible for us not to increase water tariffs while the water utility where we buy water from has increased. We were reasonable enough to at least increase our tariffs by the same amount. 'The DA must understand that we are a rural municipality with no less revenue collection, so we are like cities like eThekwini, which collect more residential and business rates, and those cities can easily reduce water tariffs and take money from other sources to cover water costs,' said Shandu. Out of this budget, the municipality set aside R357 million for capital projects, leaving the rest for operational costs. The municipality has a surplus of R14,6 million. Shandu said he believes the budget reflects a strong commitment to pro-poor service delivery, infrastructure development, and financial sustainability. Clarifying the qualifying criteria for free water, Shandu said all homes with a value of less than R130,000 of families with a combined monthly income of less than R50,000 will qualify for the free water programme. He added that the charges will also be capped at homes worth R5 million, meaning that even those families living in homes worth more than R5 million will not pay more than 13%. The district covers the three rural local municipalities of Ndwedwe, Mandeni, and Maphumulo as well as the semi-urban Greater KwaDukuza Municipality. In its response, the DA rejected the mayor's explanation, saying the party would force the municipality to reverse the increase through other mechanisms, including legal action. The DA's district constituency head, Sakhile Mngadi, who led the water march earlier, said the municipality's problem was irregular expenditure, which was picked up in the Auditor-General's report. Mngadi said that 15% of the budget went to fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and the municipality shifts its poor financial management to the poor people by burdening them with avoidable tariff increases. [email protected]
The Citizen
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
30% electricity tariff increase is a reality, says Erasa
New tariff structure threatens resellers' business model. Resellers play an important role in the electricity value chain, especially in sectional title schemes – and households using less electricity are now being hit the hardest. Picture: Supplied The Electricity Resellers Association of South Africa (Erasa) will this week decide on a strategy to address members' concerns about a looming 30% increase in electricity tariffs for most of the end-users they serve in Eskom distribution areas, according to chair Johan Hopley. These are households that rent or own sectional title units and use on average 400kWh of electricity per month. They are generally already financially struggling, and such a sharp increase in electricity costs will drastically increase the risk of non-payment. A change in Eskom's tariff structure poses a further threat to the resellers' business model as it limits their ability to recover a loss on higher winter tariffs during the summer months, says Hopley. Electricity resellers play an important role in the electricity value chain, especially in sectional title schemes. In most cases, Eskom or the municipal distributor brings the electricity to one bulk connection point at the gate, so to speak, of the premises. The internal distribution is then done by the developer and managed in the long run with the assistance of a reseller. The reseller buys from Eskom or the municipality at a bulk rate but is legally not allowed to sell it to end users at more than the approved retail tariffs of the local electricity distributor, be it Eskom or the municipality. ALSO READ: Johannesburg's 2025/26 tariff increases — Here is how much more you could pay Impact already being felt According to Hopley, the first Eskom bills based on the new tariffs that were implemented on 1 April show an increase of 30% in buildings' bulk purchase cost. A building in the East of Pretoria, for example, paid R357 921 (excluding Vat) to Eskom in May last year. Based on the same number of units in May this year, the bill runs to R464 081 – a 30% increase. Resellers must pass this on to end users who are expecting an increase of no more than the 12.74% that energy regulator Nersa approved for Eskom from 1 April. That widely quoted number is, however, an average and does not reflect the much higher increases for those using less electricity every month. ALSO READ: Nersa approves 12.7% electricity tariff hike for Eskom A tenant or unit owner who used 400kWh in May last year and paid R1 177, will now have to pay R1 547 – an increase of 31%. This may be a huge shock to smaller households that are already struggling to make ends meet, says Hopley, and may result in lower payment rates – which poses a huge risk for resellers. If they use more electricity, the increase moderates. However, at 600kWh per month it is 28%, which is still pretty steep. Even if they try to use less electricity, the impact will be limited due to Eskom's structural changes as the fixed monthly charges have increased from R195 to R367 per household. The corresponding decrease in the price per kWh is small – from R2.95 to R2.45 (17%). ALSO READ: Electricity tariffs: Ramokgopa reveals how much Eskom customers pay for usage per month Seasonal hurdle for resellers Hopley says the added complication is that Eskom's bulk tariffs are seasonal. This means the reseller pays much more for electricity when winter tariffs apply – in June, July and August – than in the rest of the year. The retail tariffs they must charge end users are however the same throughout the year. Resellers, therefore, used to sell at a loss during the winter months but were able to make up for it during the nine summer months. With the new tariffs, the loss in winter will be much bigger and in summer, the reseller may only break even, which is not at all sustainable. This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
