READER INVESTIGATION: City Power and Eskom terrorising your neighbourhood? Introducing Electricity Extortion Watch

Northern Suburbs

Spending a quiet afternoon enjoying her birthday last month, a resident of Parkhurst received a frantic call from her elderly mother’s carer. City Power had shown up at their residence and cut off their electricity with no warning.

Four days earlier, the breaker on the pylon on her street had blown, and she had called the utility to log a fault. Her household had been running partially on solar in the meantime, and she assumed the team had arrived to fix the issue. Instead, they disconnected her entirely.

The woman drove straight to her local City Power office, where she was told, in all seriousness, that she had neglected to inform the utility that she had been underpaying on her rates bill every month. Without producing any proof, they insisted she owed them almost R40,000 in back payments – despite running a portion of her system on solar – and that she would not get her electricity switched back on until she settled the bill.

With an at-risk parent at home, she was forced to call her bank and withdraw the large sum against her home loan.

“I didn’t feel like I had any choice in the matter. It’s like they knew I wasn’t in a position to fight back,” she said. “They had all my details from when I logged the fault. So what can you do? You’re a sitting duck.”

To add insult to injury, after trying to communicate with the team at City Power and requesting more information, staff told her that if she continued to ask so many questions, she would be at risk of incurring a random increase to her monthly electricity bill.

(Throughout this series, Daily Maverick will deliberately refrain from naming sources to shield their identities and protect them and their properties from possible retaliation by City Power and Eskom contractors.)

When City Power did finally reconnect her, they neglected to fix the breaker on the pylon, telling the woman that they didn’t have a ladder. Many hours later, after dark, a subcontractor was sent – a man claiming to go by the name of Menzi James Moyo. When he switched her breaker back on, he appears to have randomly switched her neighbours’ power off.

Those neighbours had a newborn in the house and went without electricity for more than four days.

“Moyo” then insisted that he be paid for his “materials”, claiming that, as a sub-contractor, he had to buy the necessary equipment to do his job with his own money. The next day, having gleaned details about the resident, her situation and her neighbourhood – and having access to her private information from the open ticket with City Power HQ – he began extorting her with threats of another, longer blackout. The shocking conversation was recorded.

“For me, when I’m going to work… I’m creating a relationship,” he told her. “Because you are the customers, we help each other. We help you, you help us.

“What we know, one day you will need us. You must cooperate.”

When this reporter called “Moyo” for comment, he at first insisted that he was the “wrong person”, then admitted to working at City Power, but wrote on WhatsApp that he “[doesn’t] ask money on people unless if someone ask me to do something [sic]”.

When he was told he was on record threatening and extorting a City Power customer, he called and proceeded to shout and threaten this reporter, saying he “would not tolerate it if [I am] doing the wrong thing”, and accusing me of being “from apartheid”.

‘Clear violation’ of policy

City Power responded to emailed questions from Daily Maverick, writing that it “views allegations of extortion, intimidation, theft, corruption, or any form of misconduct by employees, contractors, or subcontractors in an extremely serious light. The allegations raised are deeply concerning and, if proven to be true, would constitute a clear violation of City Power’s policies, contractual obligations, and ethical standards.

“Without access to the specific customer account, billing records, supporting documentation, or the circumstances surrounding this matter, City Power is unable to comment on the details of the amount referenced by the resident.”

Once again, Daily Maverick explicitly refrained from sharing with City Power the personal details of the resident who came forward with her story, out of legitimate concern about reprisals against her.

The entity responded by writing: “We recognise that allegations of corruption, extortion, intimidation, and unethical conduct can significantly erode public confidence in the organisation… [City Power] has strengthened measures to identify and investigate misconduct involving employees, contractors, and other service providers acting on its behalf.”

Read their full statement below.

Meadowlands East, Soweto

After four days without power in the middle of a cold snap last month, a building contractor, his wife and three children took turns to rush through a cold shower. Their entire neighbourhood in Extension 2 had been switched off by Eskom contractors, who had reportedly gone door to door, demanding that each household pay between R150 and R250 to have it switched back on.

They were working with “rotten” community members on their payroll, he said, to make it appear as if the transformer servicing 200 households was broken.

“The community member will call them to come and check the transformer,” he explained. “Then they’ll say there’s something wrong with a cable and each household must donate money to fix it.

“Then they’ll come after three or four days and reconnect. But within two months, they’re back again with the same story,” he said.

The contractors don’t use Eskom vehicles or wear their uniforms. They arrive in private, unmarked cars, he remarked.

“But everybody knows they are Eskom guys,” the contractor said. “I have always said that this situation will never get fixed, because every two months they know they’ll make R15,000 [off the community], and whoever is working with them will get something also.”

A story sent in by one of our readers:

Since December 2024, we have been subjected to sometimes week-long disconnections month on month from City Power service providers who, despite knowing they had incorrectly billed us, would make us wait days for reconnection.

Then the final straw came when contractors arrived with metro police, who had no jurisdiction, to break our gate, cut through a chain that we had put in place to try to protect us from further random disconnection and threaten the women living there. They were brave enough to try to stop them, but were so intimidated by their behaviour that they retreated, and watched as they illegally entered and vandalised the property.

We eventually managed to get different City Power officials to resolve the dispute, but no one ever fixed or made amends for the needless damage or intimidation.

‘No Eskom employee can accept cash’

These stories from two very different neighbourhoods of Johannesburg reflect an alarming rise in extortion of taxpaying Johannesburg residents by individuals linked to utilities that appear to be emboldened by the vulnerability of their victims and the lack of recourse, leadership or accountability by officials within City Power, Eskom or the City of Joburg.

Eskom responded to these allegations by confirming that it does not charge customers cash to repair or replace damaged electricity infrastructure or other network equipment that forms part of its distribution network.

“Customers are advised not to make any payments directly to Eskom employees, contractors or subcontractors who claim that money is required to repair damaged infrastructure.

“The only instance where customers may be required to make payments is where investigations reveal electricity-related contraventions such as meter tampering, meter bypassing, illegal connections, electricity theft or other unauthorised activities when a transformer has failed. In such cases, customers are issued with tamper fines and are formally informed of the applicable processes and charges,” they wrote in an emailed response.

“No Eskom employee or contractor is permitted to accept cash or direct electronic transfers on site.”

Electricity Extortion Watch: A new initiative by Daily Maverick

These stories are just some of many we at Daily Maverick have been hearing about from our readers over the past several months. So, today we are launching a new initiative called Electricity Extortion Watch.

If you’ve experienced manipulation, threats, damage to property or illegitimate or unsubstantiated demands for money from City Power or Eskom, we’ve created this form for you, to share your experiences with us and upload any evidence and information that can help expose individuals within this corrupt system, so that further steps can be taken to stop them from preying on others in your neighbourhoods and in your city.

A story sent to us from a reader in Sydenham:

My neighbour had no power for three days. At 4.30pm, someone arrived in an unmarked bakkie, climbed up the pole where the trip switch was clearly down and lifted it with a wooden pole. He then proceeded to tell the neighbour that, in fact, the cable under the road was broken, but provided no proof.

Instead, he offered to string wires from the trip switch across the road, if my neighbour paid him R2,500 in cash. Not wanting to go another three days without power, he agreed and, lo and behold, the power was restored. The contractor then made the neighbour drive to the ATM and hand over cash. The cable that was installed was not the correct one; vulnerable to lighting strikes and tall vehicles.

Way to go, Joburg.

Even more importantly, we want to help build a sense of solidarity and empowerment among residents that there is some form of recourse to be taken and a means of pushing back against this blatant abuse of power.

We urge residents to write down and keep the details of their cases; record their conversations with any individuals claiming to work for an electricity utility; note down licence plates, names and phone numbers, and take photos of any details that may be useful in identifying contractors engaged in extortionate behaviour. Please, do this safely and discreetly to avoid putting yourself at risk of conflict or retribution.

Then, share your story and these details with us. Our system is fastidiously set up to ensure you will be anonymised to protect your identity, your family and your property.

We will build this information into a database that is publicly accessible, so we can begin to name and shame perpetrators – with proof – and put pressure on the entities they work for, but also so that households can be alerted to individuals preying on certain areas, identify them and make a stand together.

Come out into the street in peaceful solidarity if you know a dirty contractor is disconnecting or harassing your neighbour. Get your cameras out and record to let them know they are not anonymous. Send City Power and Eskom the message that your neighbourhood, and by extension, your city, is united against extortion.

In the absence of leadership or real, accountable representation in our city, let’s work together – peacefully and methodically – to put an end to predatory behaviour at the hands of our electricity providers. DM