SABIE – If Eskom disconnects the bulk electricity supply to Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) on October 16, more than 80 per cent of the population will be left in the dark.
Sabie resident Mr Johan Oosthuizen says he has already erected a water tank and installed a generator. “But many believe it won’t happen,” he says. Some want to believe that government will intervene before it happens, like Mr Leon de Jager, chairman of the Lydenburg/Mashishing Business Chamber. Sabie Business Chamber chairman, Mr James Sheard says they have attempted to arrange a meeting with the mayor to discuss the matter.
The population of Sabie is 40 000 with 13 403 households. Registered businesses are 97 including shops, schools and other public centres. The Graskop chamber, with 41 members has urged residents and members to contact the local AfriForum branch. Mpumalanga’s AfriForum representative Mr Ruan Lottering says, “It will obtain a court order to stop Eskom from cutting the power.”
Residents, businesses, and public institutions in Graskop and Sabie are 100 per cent reliant on electricity for their water supply and the operation of the sewerage pump stations.
“The lack of capacity to deliver basic services is the single biggest threat to the development of tourism in the region,” said Me Lisa Sheard from the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KCLBT). It made a submission to Eskom as well as to the MEC for tourism in the province and the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency to not allow the disconnection of electricity. “Why would toursists come to a place where they can’t take a hot shower or read their brochures at night?” Sheard commented.
R146 million in arrears – how did it happen?
De Jager is not surprised that there is debt, but rather by the scale of it. “The municipality’s finance is a closed book,” he says but ascribes the municipality’s inability to manage its revenue as the most significant contributing factor.
The DA councillor for Graskop, Mr Johan Ligthelm agrees. This turn of events does not surprise him either. “The issue of electricity loss to the amount of R500 000 per month from illegal connections had already been brought to the attention of council in a portfolio committee meeting in 2011. Nothing has been done about it.”
De Jager agrees that this is part of the problem, but is not the main cause. He cites many examples of new property developments taking place, without the necessary administration to levy electricity charges from owners.
During the FFC public hearing in June 2012, the municipality stated “problems with revenue collection for electricity” as the single most problematic issue. According to the 2010/11 audited budget, annual revenue for electricity sales was R60 million, increasing to R72 million in the next financial year. The adjusted budget for 2013/14 indicates revenue of R124 million from sales, with an expected R100 million for bulk purchases from Eskom. The approved budget for 2013/14 indicates bulk purchases of just over R8 million per month.
In the two months since July 2013, when the outstanding amount was R102 million, another R44 million accumulated on the account.
According to Eskom, TCM already defaulted on the account in May 2012. It has not yet responded to media enquiries about when the last payments were made by TCM and what these amounts were.
The solution
Mr Sabelo Fakude of Eskom confirmed on Wednesday that TCM “had not yet put a reasonable offer on the table”.
He is aware of the fact that residents, through civil organisations, have requested that they bypass TCM and pay Eskom directly. “This is not possible, there are licensing and network configuration issues involved,” he explains.
In a letter to Eskom De Jager requests that a joint committee be formed comprising members of the Lydenburg, Graskop and Sabie business chambers, Eskom, TCM, South African Local Government Association and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, that can work together to investigate the root causes of non-payment.
He also suggests a short-term solution to resolve the arrear account as follows; national and provincial treasuries to allocate grants payable to TCM to Eskom until such time as the account is up to date. He adds that it should also be made a prerequisite by the treasury departments that the council’s Eskom account be up to date before any grants are paid to councils. The municiplaity has budgeted to receive grants of R 143 million for its 2013/14 financial year.
Eskom should realign their electricity supply policy and bypass defaulting municipalities and deal with consumers directly, according to DA councillor Me Sonja Boshoff who says, “This approach not only protects paying consumers from municipal maladministration, but gives Eskom the opportunity to go after the true culprit.”
The provincial government decided on Wednesday to dispatch an administrative team to assist TCM which it stated is now “close to a total collapse”.
“The main problem for many municipalities in our province is this matter of selling electricity. There are many of them which we must persuade to stop selling electricity because they do not have the capacity, instead this creates even more financial problems for them,” said the premier Mr David Mabuza.
