Holding Statement: City Power Disconnection at Curro Sagewood

JOHANNESBURG (24 June 2026) – Curro confirms that a City Power team, accompanied by the
Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, arrived at Curro Sagewood on the morning of 23 June
2026 and disconnected the school’s electricity supply without prior notice. The disconnection was unlawful
and power was restored within an hour.

In July 2021 Curro lodged a formal billing dispute with the City of Johannesburg regarding the amount
claimed. The dispute has been amplified with further substantiation and is supported by an independent
expert report confirming that City Power’s billing is incorrect. The alleged debt originated from clearance
fees attributable to a previous property owner, which the City of Johannesburg improperly loaded onto
Curro’s municipal account. The amount was initially reversed by the City on its own records, only to be
added back in subsequent invoices as purported unpaid utilities with no breakdown or substantiation
provided.

During protracted engagement between the parties and their legal representatives since 2022, the City of
Johannesburg’s own authorised officials agreed that the amount in question was not owed by Curro and
that the dispute should be resolved accordingly. The City has failed to honour that undertaking.
In 2025, having exhausted all administrative avenues, Curro instructed its attorneys to approach the High
Court to compel the City to give effect to what its own officials had agreed. That application is pending. The
City indicated it would oppose but has not filed any papers and Curro has applied for a set-down date.
It is in these circumstances, with a formally registered dispute and pending High Court proceedings, that
City Power disconnected electricity supply to a functioning school. The school’s Executive Head presented
documented proof of the live dispute to the disconnection team on site. The team refused to consider it
and proceeded. Curro’s legal representatives contacted the City’s attorneys, and supply was restored
within the hour.

Curro pays all current monthly municipal charges for electricity and water punctually and in full. There are
no arrears on current consumption. The only amount withheld is the disputed sum, which is ringfenced in
accordance with the Municipal Systems Act pending finalisation of the dispute. During the brief
disconnection, the school operated on backup power and no teaching or learning was disrupted.
Curro notes that while the disconnection and reconnection occurred on 23 June, City Power chose to issue
a media statement on 24 June that contains statements that are factually incorrect and reputationally
damaging.

Curro is pursuing all available remedies in respect of the unlawful disconnection and the City’s continued
failure to resolve this matter through the processes it agreed to.
Curro always pays what it legitimately owes

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