Julius Malema wants to take money from billionaire Johann Rupert to pay for free electricity for grant recipients

EFF leader Julius Malema promoted free water and electricity for social grant recipients, saying it can be paid for by people like billionaire Johann Rupert.

Malema shared this view in a speech during an EFF local election rally at the KaMaqhekeza Stadium in Mpumalanga.

As he has regularly done in the past, Malema said that people should use their SASSA grant money exclusively for food and basic necessities.

He added that pensioners and other grant recipients should receive free electricity and water from municipalities.

Turning to where the money would come from, Malema said they would target wealthy individuals and corporate entities.

He singled out Johann Rupert, who Malema alleged avoided paying municipal bills for his Leopard Creek estate.

The Leopard Creek Country Club is in a dispute with the Nkomazi Local Municipality over property valuation and historical rates agreements.

The conflict originates from a 1996 agreement between the estate and the municipality, where Leopard Creek paid a fixed nominal rate.

The municipality later argued that this agreement became null and void following the introduction of the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act in 2004.

The primary driver of the unpaid amounts is a discrepancy in the estate’s valuation for municipal rating purposes.

Leopard Creek’s assessments placed its property value at R330 million, while the Nkomazi Municipality values the estate at R1.3 billion to R1.56 billion.

Because Leopard Creek paid property rates based on its lower valuation, municipal records showed accumulated arrears of millions of rands over several years.

Julius Malema targets Johann Rupert

In his speech, Malema spent a lot of time attacking Rupert, saying that he owes the Nkomazi Local Municipality millions.

“Johann Rupert is going to pay for free water and electricity. We don’t care about Rupert. We are not scared of Rupert,” he said.

“Leopard Creek has not been paying for municipal services for too long. The court said he must pay, but he is still not paying.”

“We are going to force Rupert to pay for services to Nkomazi Local Municipality for Leopard Creek. This is because we are not friends of Rupert.”

Malema said they want Rupert’s money to subsidise old people’s pensions so they can get free electricity and water.

“When they ask where the money will come from for free electricity and water, tell them it will come from Leopard Creek.”

He added that other sources of revenue to fund free services include big industries and businessmen who can afford to subsidise the poor.