Free State MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs Mxolisi Dukwana has vowed to deal with the debt owed to Eskom by 15 municipalities and the province’s only metropolitan municipality.
Municipalities such as Maluti-a-Phofung, Matjhabeng, Ngwathe, Nketoane, and Dihlabeng, as well as the Mangaung Metro, form part of the 15 councils that owe the utility R16-billion, accumulated over years.
Dukwana said it was embarrassing that municipalities in the province had run up such high electricity bills.
He blamed poor administration and corruption for leaving the councils in this position.
He said he will be visiting all the fingered councils from next week Tuesday with his team to discuss the issue and come up with solutions on how Eskom will be paid. “It is really embarrassing to have so much money owed to Eskom by our municipalities and clearly heads must roll in this case.”
He said some of the officials are sleeping on duty, which is one of the reasons the debt had ballooned to billions of rand.
“We need to weed out corruption and also act decisively against those who are tasked with the responsibility of managing municipal accounts. All municipalities involved should come up with a plan to service this debt and we need to understand their positions.
Agreements should be signed to take responsibility so that this debt can be paid.”
Dukwana also blamed Eskom for not bringing this matter to the fore when the debt started to escalate.
“Eskom was not supposed to keep quiet until now when the debt reached this point.
“If Eskom knew that municipalities were not paying their debt for such a long time, it should have spoken to non-paying municipalities and cut services for that matter, instead of keeping quiet for so long,” Dukwana said.
“You cannot continue to provide services to someone who is not paying.”
In 2020, Eskom froze the bank account of Matjhabeng after the council’s debt reached more than R3-billion.
Eskom also attached 139 farms belonging to Matjhabeng as security for the debt.
Eskom spokesperson, Sikonathi Mantshantsha said: “Eskom continues to explore efforts to recoup the revenue from these municipalities, and is currently considering other avenues, including arbitration, which requires the assistance of the National Treasury, which is a more economically viable and shorter route than litigation.”
Maluti-a-Phofung owes Eskom over R6.6-billion, followed by Matjhabeng with a debt of over R4.4-billion, while Ngwathe owes the power utility over R1.4-billion.
Several other provincial municipalities also owe Eskom hundreds of millions of rand. Dihlabeng owes over R655-million, with Moqhaka’s debt reaching over R613-million, Nala sitting at R527-million, Nketoana at R495-million, and Mantsopa’s debt topping R246-million.
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