The Gauteng government says it has been paying for the replacement of electricity transformers on behalf of communities and that is why Premier Panyaza Lesufi has been visiting areas that are being reconnected to the grid. 

Lesufi has been seen in areas such as Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Kagiso, where electricity transformers were either replaced or fixed and reconnected. 

There have been questions about why Lesufi claimed victory for a service the provincial government has no direct control over. 

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) accused Lesufi of claiming victory and using the replacement of transformers for political campaigning. 

The party said communities had paid for the replacement of electricity transformers, not the Gauteng government. 

"The premier falsely takes credit for replacing transformers while, in reality, community members were compelled to make financial contributions for Eskom to perform these replacements. 

"The communities Panyaza purports to electrify have endured two to three years in darkness due to burnt transformers from load shedding. This has caused serious economic and social ramifications. 

"This is a desperate attempt to salvage the African National Congress's (ANC's) future in the 2024 elections. Premier Lesufi is engaged in publicity stunts," Gauteng EFF said.

Lesufi's office told News24 that the provincial government had a service-level agreement with City Power, which manages the electricity supply for Johannesburg, for replacing the transformers. 

Lesufi's spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the government was paying for the transformers and he objected to criticism from the opposition, saying they were misinformed about the mandate of the government to assist communities in need. 

"The Transformer Replacement Programme is not an Eskom programme but a provincial government programme. Eskom works with the province and City Power to replace the transformers. The opposition parties are misinformed and their criticism is based on ignorance and lack of information," Pamla said. 

Lesufi has said the programme is expected to be replicated in Soweto in December.

The Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) department confirmed to News24 that in instances where communities could not pay, the provincial government stepped in. 

The department did not respond to questions on how much was spent on replacing electricity transformers. 

"The province shall pay for replaced transformers in municipal serviced areas since most of the municipalities, especially the local municipalities, currently have no resources to replace these transformers. 

"The province has entered into a legal partnership (through a memorandum of agreement and a service-level agreement) with City Power to implement this programme in the local municipal supplied areas. This will also make the process less cumbersome because the province does not have to transfer money to various municipalities," Gauteng Cogta spokesperson Kgapa Mabusela said. 

Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has criticised Lesufi's sudden political rhetoric on electricity debts owed by consumers in the province. DA Gauteng provincial leader Solly Msimanga said Lesufi was lying to residents. 

The premier was seen encouraging municipalities in the province to scrap the debt owed by consumers. 

"We are happy that the national government has agreed. All the debts owed to Eskom have been scrapped and we are starting on a new slate. We are encouraging all the municipalities governed by the ANC to do the same and scrap the debt of everyone. We are serious about winning this election," Lesufi said. 

The ANC is expected to face a tough election in 2024. The party only managed to win Gauteng with a slight majority in 2019.