- A Koster family had their electricity cut off without notice by the municipality.
- The High Court ruled the disconnection was unlawful and ordered immediate reconnection.
- The case sends a clear message: service delivery must follow legal process.
When Peter and Semakaleng Tsele woke up on 22 January 2025, their home in Koster was without electricity. This wasn’t a power outage or loadshedding; it was a deliberate cut-off by their local municipality, done quietly and without warning. There had been no letter. No formal notice. No legal process.
Municipal workers from the Kgetleng Rivier Local Municipality arrived and removed the family’s electricity meter. Weeks earlier, their son had chased away officials attempting to do the same. This time, no one was there to intervene. By the time the Tseles returned home, they had been effectively disconnected without a single lawful step being taken.
What followed was more than just darkness. It was a test of their rights as residents, and of what service delivery means in a constitutional democracy.
Family takes on the municipality and wins
After contacting their electricity vendor, Ideal Prepaid, the Tseles learned that the municipality claimed their meter was “faulty”, a claim they hadn’t been informed of, let alone given a chance to challenge. Their lawyer wrote a letter demanding that the power be reconnected. The municipality refused.
So the couple turned to the courts. In an urgent application, they argued that the disconnection amounted to spoliation, an unlawful interference with their possession of electricity, a basic necessity for living with dignity in their home. The North West High Court in Mahikeng agreed.
On 24 January, the court ordered that their electricity be reconnected within two hours, finding that the municipality’s actions were both unlawful and unjustified. The urgency of the matter was confirmed at a follow-up hearing on 28 January, where the court further ordered the municipality to pay the family’s legal costs
A warning against self-help and service delivery abuse
In handing down the reasons for that order on 9 July 2025, the court issued a stern reminder that municipalities are not above the law. Cutting off electricity, or any essential service, without due process is not only unconstitutional but a serious threat to public peace.
The judgment condemned the municipality’s “self-help” approach, warning that unilateral decisions to disrupt services could not be tolerated in a society based on the rule of law.
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