NELSPRUIT – Municipalities in Mpumalanga had accumulated the highest debt owed to Eskom of all the provinces by the end of October.
While Brenden Ledwaba from Graskop in the Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) and Musa Sukwene from Emalahleni (Witbank) squared off in the finals of the Idols competition this week, their respective hometown municipalities were also revealed to be the municipalities in the province owing Eskom the most money.
According to Mr. Lechesa Tsenoli, minister of co-operative governance, in a written reply to questions posed by the DA, TCM owed Eskom a total of R128,6 million at the end of October, while Emalahleni owed R184,8 million.
Tsenoli’s answers revealed that municipalities in Mpumalanga also owe the utility company R485 million. They are followed by municipalities in the Free Sate with R466 million and those in Gauteng with R162 million.
According to Mr Jacques Smalle, a member of parliament and the DA’s shadow deputy minister of energy, their biggest concern is that the money municipalities earn from selling electricity, is either not being collected or is misspent for municipalities to be in such arrears.
“I would say that 99 per cent of the time, they use that money to pay their overhead expenses, instead of paying Eskom what it is owed,” he said. Smalle explained that the amounts in arrears were for amounts outstanding for longer than 60 days at the end of October. Other local municipalities in the Lowveld had amounts outstanding for more than 60 days. These were Mbombela (R635 542), Umjindi (R21 277) and Bushbuckridge (R9 915).
On the other hand, R103,6 million of the total owed by TCM at the end of October was outstanding for more than 90 days. The total amount currently owed to Eskom by TCM stands at R160 million.
It was recently issued with a warning that its electricity supply will be disconnected. “To prevent this from happening again, it is imperative that all money owed to Eskom is recovered,” Smalle said.
