Johannesburg: Court again bars cutting of power

The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has granted a second urgent order halting the North West's Madibeng municipality from cutting electricity without notice, AfriForum said on Friday.

The lobby group's North West organiser, Ian Cameron, said the order prohibited the municipality from cutting electricity supply to any premises without a 14-day notice.

This was after the municipality disconnected electricity to residents in the Hartbeespoort area.

"To add insult to injury, the accounts of residents who had their electricity disconnected were actually current, and proof to this effect had been submitted," Cameron said.

On 15 March the same court granted AfriForum an order to stop the municipality from disconnecting Hartbeespoort's power supply without notice.

Cameron said AfriForum was also preparing for a possible contempt of court case against Madibeng's municipal manager Monde Juta. He said if the municipality continued to cut electricity without notice, AfriForum would charge it with contempt of court and Juta could be arrested.

Madibeng spokesperson Lebogang Tsogang said she was unaware of the second court order.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (19/04/2013): http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Court-again-bars-cutting-of-power-20130419