Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Strict consequence management must follow NERSA tribunal, says AfriForum

Soundbite: Morné Mostert (English)

Soundbite: Morné Mostert (Afrikaans)

AfriForum yesterday made an application to the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to disclose the directives resulting from the regulator’s first tribunal hearing in terms of the Electricity Regulation Act. This includes findings of compliance audits, tribunal guidelines, remedial steps imposed on electricity licensees and the mechanisms put in place to ensure that it is followed through. The organisation argues that this information will ensure transparency and accountability in the public interest.

NERSA’s first tribunal hearing took place in December and heard cases of non-compliance against electricity licensees. This follows continued pressure for greater regulatory accountability and enforcement within the electricity sector. AfriForum has been involved in various complaints and legal processes over the past few years aimed at forcing NERSA to fully comply with its statutory powers as regulator, especially where service delivery problems and illegal practices directly affect communities and electricity consumers.

“The tribunal is a necessary step in restoring the energy regulator’s credibility and is long overdue. However, this process will only have real value if it is accompanied by firm consequence management. If licensees do not comply with legislative and licensing standards, they must be dealt with decisively, transparently and sustainably,” says Morné Mostert, Manager for Local Government Affairs at AfriForum.

AfriForum emphasises that non-compliance by electricity licensees (such as municipalities in particular) has direct and serious consequences for communities, including unsafe infrastructure, illegal power outages, unreliable power supply and rising costs.

With more than 160 branches across the country, AfriForum is ideally positioned to assist in monitoring compliance at grassroots level and to support legal enforcement efforts by the regulator.

“A regulator cannot act in isolation. Civil society and communities are often the first to experience the consequences of regulatory failure. AfriForum will therefore remain actively involved in the electricity sector and, through formal complaints and constructive engagement, ensure that compliance is not only ordered on paper, but also implemented in practice,” concludes Mostert.