City of Tshwane encourages residents to take advantage of the amnesty period for those who are illegally connected to the City’s electricity and water network

The City of Tshwane appeals to consumers who are illegally connected to the electricity and water network to apply for amnesty to avoid fines and criminal charges. The amnesty period is valid from 1 August to 30 September 2022.

The purpose of the amnesty period is to assist residents and business owners who are guilty of the following:

• Illegally connecting to the electricity and/or water network and benefiting from these services without being measured and paying for consumption.
• Tampering with an electricity and/or water meter, resulting in the measuring of incorrect or lower consumption.
• Illegally reconnecting an electricity and/or water meter after a credit control disconnection.
• Paying a bribe to remove an outstanding amount on an account or paying a bribe to illegally open a new municipal account without following the official process.
• Paying a bribe to have an electricity and/or water meter bypassed to record incorrect or lower consumption.

Residents are reminded that fines for illegal connections and electricity theft is R200 000 for individual and household accounts, and R10 million for business accounts. In addition to these fines, the City will also lay criminal charges and pursue recovery of lost income. A highly skilled multidisciplinary revenue-collection team has been established for this purpose.

This extraordinary step is unprecedented in municipalities across the country.

Residents and business owners who want to apply for amnesty can download forms from the City’s website, www.tshwane.gov.za. There is an icon on the landing page which will direct you to the amnesty page where you will be able to download the amnesty application form. A dedicated email address has been created for this purpose where the forms can be submitted: amnesty@tshwane.gov.za.

Amnesty application forms will also be made available at all City of Tshwane customer care walk-in centres across the seven regions of Tshwane. 

To qualify for amnesty, the following information must be submitted to the City of Tshwane:

• Complete and submit the application form
• Submit an affidavit detailing the following:
• How the tampering and/or illegal connection was installed
• Who the individual(s) are who facilitated the tampering, illegal connection and/or fraud on the account
• How and to whom money was paid to facilitate the tampering, illegal connection and/or fraud on the account
• The amount paid and how frequently the bribe money was paid (monthly or once-off)

Some of the benefits of applying for amnesty are that, in the case of successful prosecution of those implicated in the affidavit, the metering will be corrected and the account holder will start paying for services correctly from the date the amnesty is granted. The tampering and illegal connection fine will be waived and no criminal charges will be levied against the person or company granted amnesty.