THE 20-YEAR LOCK-IN: HOW THE DA SOLD CAPE TOWN'S POWER TO AN AMERICAN LLC FOR R5.1 BILLION
Have you ever heard of a company called Make A Difference Ventures LLC?
No? Neither has Cape Town. Yet this American-registered company has just been handed a 20-year electricity contract by the City of Cape Town to the tune of R5.1 BILLION.
20 years. Locked. No exit.
WHO ARE THEY? WHO OWNS THEM?
The DA's only excuse is "it's cheaper than Eskom." 40MW solar in Philippi, 19-21% saving, CPI-linked not Eskom-linked. They say it will save R1.7 billion.
That's the sales pitch. Here is the truth:
1. An American LLC owning Cape Town's power.* Not a local cooperative. Not a Cape Flats community project. An LLC - a US structure built to hide beneficial owners. Who are the real shareholders? Who funded them? What are their political connections? The DA-run City has refused to show us the faces behind the LLC.
2. Awarded on deviation.This was not a clean, competitive, transparent tender. Council records show it was approved on deviation in February 2025. Deviation means they bypassed normal supply chain rules. For R5.1 billion.
3. Treasury flagged it.National Treasury itself had to write to the City asking about compliance failures. For a 20-year contract, the public participation process produced ONE comment from the public. One. For R5.1 billion of your electricity money. That is not consultation. That is capture.
4. A 20-year mortgage on your prepaid. The City says it will be funded from the bulk electricity account. That's your money every time you buy electricity. They are gambling that this company will exist, perform, and stay cheaper for two decades until 2046. If it fails, if it under-delivers, if it sells its shares offshore, Cape Town cannot walk away. You are the collateral.
THE DA'S HYPOCRISY
The DA built its brand attacking ANC long-term Eskom deals as corrupt and reckless. Now it signs the exact same model, just in blue.
Foreign company. Massive long-term lock-in. Deviation. Treasury query. Zero transparency.
If this was in Johannesburg under the ANC, Geordin Hill-Lewis would be marching to the Hawks with a dossier.
In Cape Town, it's called "innovation."
Don't be fooled. "Cheaper than Eskom" is not a business plan, it's a slogan. Eskom was also cheap in 1990.
Real energy independence is local, transparent, and publicly owned. This is not independence. This is outsourcing sovereignty to an LLC no one knows, for 20 years, with your money.
Cape Town must demand: Publish the full contract. Publish the owners. Publish the Treasury letter.
Do some digging. Then we share notes.
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