Mayoral Business Forum urgently needed during Corona crisis – GTCoC

This is the view of the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) after the near-complete lockdown closure of steel giant ArcelorMittal in the Vaal and its slashing of employee salaries by more than half from beginning April.

Challenges to business survival were unresolved before South Africa and the Vaal were confronted by the Corona pandemic – especially the contentious issue of exorbitant electricity prices imposed on business and residents by the old ELM management regime last year.

“The Corona crisis should not detract from the great anger and resentment ignited and still burning due to exorbitant and oppressive power tariff increases of up to 21% gained last year under false pretences by a former ELM acting Municipal Manager and Chief Financial Officer.

“Many Vaal businesses – and let us not forget micro-entrepreneurs and informal traders – were already facing closure before the pandemic – Covid-19 has now pushed many over the edge but they got there through severe mismanagement by the old ELM management regime” said Klippies Kritzinger, GTCoC CEO.

GTCoC President Jaco Verwey last year mobilised and mounted a legal challenge to the 21% power increases with Vaal Large Power Users (LPU’s) and gained a Gauteng High Court order setting the increases aside.

However, ELM has not yet paid the increases back to business or residents.

Since late February, ELM has had a new permanent Municipal Manager, Lucky Leseane, in place and he has been praised for stabilising ELM on a number of key financial and management fronts, especially stable water and electricity supply.

It is still not yet clear what official ELM policy on payback will be under Leseane.

Kritzinger said this week it was vital to future recovery and prosperity scenarios for the Vaal that the Mayor’s business forum be up and running as quickly as possible to do the service delivery and economic development groundwork necessary in a post-pandemic situation.

ELM Executive Mayor Gift Moerane announced late last year he would establish a Mayoral Advisory Board or Business Stakeholder Forum to jointly address both service delivery and economic investment and development issues in the Vaal.

Business organisations such as the GTCoC were already invited in December 2019 to serve on the Forum, envisaged to also have an administrative secretariat to manage and implement joint projects under direction of the Executive Mayor.

Mayor Moerane announced the establishment of the forum last year during a crisis sparked by non-payment of Eskom by then ELM acting Municipal Manager Dithaba Oupa Nkoane and Chief Financial Officer Andile Dyakala.

Despite resolution of this second crisis, a second Eskom non-payment crisis erupted earlier this year under the same two ELM officials – both originally Gauteng Province political cadre deployees – but this time Eskom had ELM assets attached and seized.

In both crises, Nkoane and Dyakala were accused of deceiving ELM political and council stakeholders by falsely claiming Eskom was in fact being paid.

Dyakala narrowly escaped dismissal However, intensive efforts by newly-appointed permanent ELM Municipal Manager Lucky Leseane contained the crisis and new payment plans were submitted to Eskom for consideration shortly before the Corona crisis engulfed the nation.

ELM spokespersons were not available to comment on the proposed Mayoral Business Forum.