News24 reports that on Friday City Power was forced to abandon its blitz to cut off electricity connections due to unpaid bills in Lenasia, where it is owed more than R1.2 billion by customers.

Three technicians were held hostage soon after the team disconnected Lens Station Shopping Complex, which has an outstanding bill of more than R3 million. City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said a group of people arrived shouting insults and threats of violence before they held the technicians hostage, but eventually let them go. He indicated that the Johannesburg Metro Police Department advised City Power to abandon proceeding with the operation because it was increasingly clear the safety of the technicians could not be guaranteed. While the violence and threats shook the City Power team, Mangena said the disconnection drive would continue in Lenasia as more police escorts would be deployed. "These drives have been necessitated by the culture of non-payment by some customers in the Lenasia area, which has resulted in the SDC collecting low revenues in comparison to the population," Mangena indicated.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tshepiso Motloung at News24

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