Joburg urged to scrap fixed electricity surcharge after Ekurhuleni decision

ACTIONSA has thrown down the gauntlet to the City of Joburg and all Gauteng municipalities, after the Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Nkosindiphile Xhakaza, suspended the controversial fixed electricity surcharge.

- MASABATA MKWANANZI [e-mail]

Calling the Ekurhuleni decision a wake-up call to municipalities, the party's Gauteng Chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, said: “It is no longer acceptable to balance municipal budgets by squeezing the most vulnerable residents while protecting bloated expenditure and inefficiencies in city administrations.”

This comes in the wake of public outrage and violent protests in Tembisa, where police resorted to firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds. The unrest was sparked by the City of Ekurhuleni’s implementation of new electricity tariffs, which came into effect on July 1 for the 2025/26 financial year.

ActionSA said the latest development reaffirms its longstanding position that the electricity surcharges are unjust, anti-poor, and were imposed without proper public consultation.