Daily Maverick has apologised to Coega Steels. (Photo: Supplied) The correct facts are that Coega Steels made a payment of R28,900,727.73 to the municipality on 12 May 2026, the day before the deadline, and subsequently provided Daily Maverick with proof of remittance confirming the payment.
The payment reflects the amount Coega Steels considers lawfully due. The difference between this amount and the municipality’s R45-million bill is the subject of an ongoing legal dispute between the parties.
The article also reported that Coega Steels had defaulted on about R10-million that was “written off” by the municipality in 2024. Daily Maverick has since established that this matter formed part of a broader dispute regarding electricity tariff adjustments involving 14 High Energy User industrial companies within the metro, and was not a concession granted solely to Coega Steels.
The errors arose from information that Daily Maverick did not sufficiently verify prior to publication. Comment was also not sought from Coega Steels before publication, which would likely have identified these inaccuracies earlier.
Daily Maverick apologises to Coega Steels for these errors and any reputational harm they may have caused. We fell short of the standards we hold ourselves to.
Daily Maverick believes deeply in defending the truth and holding power to account. That responsibility also requires us to acknowledge when our reporting is wrong and to correct the record openly and transparently. In that spirit, we have removed the original article and are publishing a statement from Coega Steels.
Statement by Coega Steels
Regarding allegations about the non-payment of March dues payable by 13 May 2026, Coega Steels confirms that this payment was effected on the due date in terms of the existing arrangements with the municipality.
Any suggestion that the company has defaulted on its agreed payment obligations is therefore factually incorrect and misleading. The company is in possession of proof of remittance confirming such payment.
Regarding the claims about municipal arrears, Coega Steels has actively engaged, and continues to do so, with Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality on account reconciliations and billing disputes arising from complex industrial electricity consumption calculations, tariff allocations and related adjustments.
The figures quoted publicly do not reflect the full context of the ongoing engagements between the parties.
For further context and benefit of DM’s readers, Coega Steels records that while Eskom increased municipal electricity tariffs by 11.32% for the 2025/26 financial year, NMBM increased Coega Steels’s tariff by approximately 16%.
The company has lawfully declared a dispute with the NMBM and energy regulator Nersa regarding the lawfulness of the 2025/26 NMBM electricity tariffs and is seeking an order in the high court to have these declared unlawful.
Coega Steels also wishes to correct misleading assertions relating to an alleged R10-million “write-off”. This matter did not pertain exclusively to Coega Steels but formed part of a broader dispute regarding the application of incorrect electricity tariffs involving High Energy User industrial companies within the metro.
Any settlement discussions or adjustments arising from this process addressed disputes lodged by 14 industrial customers and were not concessions granted solely to Coega Steels.
Importantly, Coega Steels has never sought to avoid its obligations and remains committed to constructive engagement aimed at achieving a lawful, technically accurate and commercially sustainable resolution.
The company has previously clarified its position on the leasing of the municipal transformer. However, as a responsible corporate citizen and one of the Eastern Cape’s largest industrial employers, Coega Steels believes it is important to place certain additional facts on record to provide context to the public.
In August 2025, following a catastrophic failure of the company’s main transformer, Coega Steels faced an imminent shutdown of operations that would have had severe consequences for hundreds of employees, contractors, suppliers and the broader regional economy. As publicly stated previously, the company explored all commercially available alternatives in South Africa to source a suitable replacement transformer, but none was immediately available.
Coega Steels then approached the NMBM in good faith regarding the temporary lease of a spare transformer. The company’s engagement with the municipality was conducted strictly in accordance with the guidance, approvals and representations provided by municipal officials and municipal leadership. At no stage was Coega Steels involved in, nor responsible for, the municipality’s internal governance or administrative processes.
The transformer arrangement was intended as a temporary emergency intervention to preserve industrial operations, protect jobs and ensure continuity of electricity sales revenue to the municipality itself. During this period, the municipality benefited from electricity revenue of around R150-million from Coega Steels’s operations.
The lawfulness of the transformer lease forms the subject of an application in the high court by the NMBM and waits to be enrolled for hearing by the high court when and where the true facts will be fully ventilated in public.
The company rejects any claims being created through a public narrative that incorrectly seeks to portray Coega Steels as having acted improperly, unlawfully or against the public interest when it was responding to an operational emergency and engaged the municipality.
Coega Steels remains committed to:
- Preserving jobs and industrial capacity in South Africa;
- Complying with all applicable legal and commercial obligations;
- Cooperating with all and any lawful processes and investigations regarding the lease of the transformer; and
- Maintaining constructive relations with the municipality and all stakeholders. DM