LYDENBURG – It seems as if residents of Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) will be plunged into darkness this winter. Bulk electricity supply to the municipality faces imminent disconnection due to a R196 million debt owned to Eskom.
In October Eskom also threatened to cut the bulk electricity supply to TCM due to its outstanding debt, which stood at R164 million at the time. This was halted when AfriForum obtained an urgent court interdict against the planned cut and a judge instructed Eskom, TCM and the provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) to work out a repayment agreement.
Eskom agreed to suspend the interest on the debt while TCM agreed to repay the debt by this coming November while also settling its current account on a monthly basis. However, TCM reneged on the repayment.
Last week, Ms Linda Kunene, key accounts manager at Eskom, informed AfriForum of the imminent cut as the municipality’s debt to the utility provider had escalated to R196 million by June 25. Kunene said Eskom was obliged to disconnect the electricity in line with the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.
This is to occur “imminently”, but a date had not been set since they were awaiting a response from the MEC for Cogta, Ms Refilwe Mtsweni.
According to Mr Leon de Jager, chairman of AfriForum’s Lydenburg branch, as the governmental overseer of local authorities, the MEC was a party to the agreed repayment plan and therefore had a contractual obligation to ensure that TCM adhered to it.
“Cogta did not fulfil its obligation towards Eskom and the residents of TCM, and is thus directly responsible for this highly unfortunate situation. We, as AfriForum, will also explore the possibility that Cogta could be in contempt of court by not exercising its legal duty in this regard.
“We, as the ratepayers and residents of TCM, will also demand action from the premier in this regard. We are sick and tired of the incompetent cadres being sent to TCM under the disguise of administrators, task teams and acting municipal managers – none of these so-called interventions has had any success, if anything, they just made matters worse.”
At the time of going to print, neither Mr Puleng Mapahto, spokesman for the municipality, nor Mr Simphiwe Kunene, spokesman for Cogta, nor Mr Zibonele Mncwango, spokesman for the premier’s office, had commented on the matter.
