Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Selmé Pretorius and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Kabelo Moreeng. See attached pictures here, here, here, and here.
It is more than 100 days since Dr Malefane Sekoboto was reappointed as Centlec CEO on 1 July 2026. The DA believes his performance should be judged not only by the number of power outages or the speed of repairs, but also by the measures taken to prevent future failures.
Centlec’s own Electrical Infrastructure Maintenance Policy requires preventative maintenance, regular inspections of electrical infrastructure and ongoing monitoring of maintenance performance. The policy provides for inspections of substations and equipment, condition-based maintenance and the replacement or refurbishment of ageing infrastructure. The policy exists. The question is whether it is being implemented.
The DA is therefore calling on Centlec to provide a clear 100-day account of its performance. Centlec must disclose its approved 2026/27 maintenance plan, the maintenance activities scheduled since 1 July, how many were completed, cancelled or postponed, and the reasons for any deviations. It must also provide a list of substations inspected, defects identified, corrective action taken and outstanding work.
For every major outage, Centlec should provide the originating substation or feeder, cause of the failure, customers affected, duration, whether neighbouring feeders were affected, whether load was transferred and whether the fault had previously been identified. Residents deserve to know whether repeated failures are isolated incidents or evidence of wider network weaknesses.
The DA is also demanding transparency on streetlight faults. Centlec must state how many faults were outstanding on 1 July, how many were reported during the past 100 days, how many were repaired and how many remain outstanding. In Ward 24, residents have reported streetlights remaining out for months.
Centlec must further disclose its 2026/27 maintenance budget, expenditure since 1 July, spending on emergency repairs, and the availability of service vehicles, critical spare parts and technical staff.
An SMS stating “power interruption due to a fault” is not sufficient correspondence. Councillors and residents need meaningful information about the cause of failures, restoration times, remedial action and measures to prevent repeat incidents.
The DA believes Mangaung needs a preventative approach based on five priorities: a comprehensive digital asset register showing the condition of every substation, feeder and transformer; a 12-month preventative maintenance programme with monthly reporting; identification of single points of failure; reliable operational information for councillors on outages and restoration times; and monthly publication of key indicators such as maintenance completion, repeat faults, restoration times, SAIDI and SAIFI.
Sekoboto was reappointed to improve the reliability and modernisation of Centlec. After 100 days, residents have a right to know what has changed.
The people of Mangaung need a professional electricity utility that maintains infrastructure before it fails, invests according to risk and is transparent and accountable when service standards are not met.