It is quite astonishing how South Africa is run especially with NERSA the National Electricity Regulator South Africa having just lost another court ruling. Eskom is the SOE who supplies the electricity to the country and NERSA is meant to keep them in check. The problem is NERSA and Eskom are in cahoots with each other and protecting their own interests.
Recently there was an error in calculations by NERSA that was left unchecked which would allow Eskom via the local municipalities to increase the tariffs over the next 3 years way above inflation. AFRIFORUM is an independent legal citizen group that is self funded through business and local support has taken NERSA to court so certain crucial information is in the public eye. Corruption is being attacked head on by the people of SA and not by the government who think they are above the law.
The crucial information NERSA wants hidden is the price per kwh the municipalities pay Eskom so everyone can see the mark ups. NERSA stated that the public do not have the right to know this information and the judge disagreed with them and sided with AFRIFORUM and leaving all costs of the case with NERSA. The judge stated that how this business was being conducted was unconstitutional and needed to be in the public eye. NERSA argued that the information was confidential and too technical for the citizens of SA. They know the gravy train game is up and now they are truly screwed.
Services in SA are so screwed up there is no budget to fix traffic lights unless they are around the area of the G20 summit which is happening very soon. Every day I drive through countless traffic lights that either have been removed for scrap or stripped of all the wiring for scrap copper being exported to China. The country is in such a mess there are no funds to repair anything that is broken because the funds have been diluted due to corrupt tender processes.
This is a big win for the people in SA as now the corrupt organizations being Eskom , NERSA and the 158 municipalities now have to be transparent showing all costs and what profits are being made via ill gotten mark ups. We already know the mark ups are excessive and this was the money the municipalities do not want you to see as they are busy stealing whatever they can through various schemes. I know a call center lady driving a brand new BMW X6 and this can only be through illegal activity in the municipality.
In the past we just get told what the price increases are and how NERSA has protected us from bigger proposed hikes from Eskom. This is them playing good cop bad cop when they are both the same bad cop. The public saw NERSA as fighting on their behalf but with the latest accounting error in the hundreds of millions of Rands it showed they actually did nothing to fight the last tariff increase.
Eskom now have to reveal to NERSA their latest bulk electricity tariffs by 31st December 2026 which is the discounted rate municipalities buy electricity. Municipalities then have until March 2026 to submit their increased price showing their profit margin. NERSA then has until May 5th 2026 to show what prices they have negotiated which is all in the public eye. This is not what they had in mind as now everyone can see how crooked all three are.
Last month AFRIFORUM won another court case preventing the 3 from pushing through the increased tariffs over the next 3 years due to accounting errors. Those errors were blatant and were known to be incorrect yet these were ignored due to internal corruption.