Power supply again under threat
On account of the escalating debt, Eskom has referred the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal in an attempt to overturn the ruling preventing Eskom from cutting the power to the town.
LYDENBURG – On account of Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) not honouring its repayment plan towards its Eskom account, the power giant is now attempting to overturn the ruling by the High Court to cut the power to this town.
The lack of repayment was confirmed during a presentation on the financial state of municipalities within Mpumalanga on September 17. The report, of which Steelburger/Lydenburg News has a copy, also indicates that TCLM lies fourth on the list of all Mpumlanga municipalities with regard to Eskom debt.
TCLM owes Eskom more than half a billion rand. The ballpark figure for the current debt is about R676 million, however, an informed source told the newspaper that this increases with about R70 million every six months.
Earlier this year, the three combined business chambers of TCLM took the municipality and Eskom to court for electricity cuts with regard to TCLM’s non-payment to Eskom.
The chambers of Lydenburg, Graskop and Sabie won the case. The judgment was delivered in the High Court of Pretoria on March 7.
The court said the constitutional duty rests with the municipality having been supplied with bulk electricity from Eskom to provide electricity to the end user.
TCLM then said this judgement was a relief for everyone including the municipality, but it does not in any way imply that the institution should stop honouring the debt.
It would, however, seem that this is not the case, as the presentation stated that the total creditors debt for municipalities in this province increased from R7 billion as at June 2018 to a staggering R11 billion at the end of June 2019.
It read that 10 municipalities in the province were major contributors to the escalating Eskom debt. Of these 10 only Emalahleni (Witbank), Goven Mbeki (Sekunda) and Lekwa (Standerton) municipality were more in debt than TCLM.
“All the above municipalities are not honouring the repayment plans made with Eskom. This has a negative impact on their financial viability and might further spark service delivery protests if Eskom cuts electricity supply within a municipality as part of their credit control measures.
“The above is also and indication that municipalities are unable to manage their cash flow effectively and intensify their revenue-raising efforts. The remaining municipalities are failing to honour creditors as required in terms of Section 65(e) of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), due to liquidity challenges.”
On account of the escalating debt, Eskom has referred the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal in an attempt to overturn the ruling preventing Eskom from cutting the power to the town. Eric Khoza of Eskom’s communications department confirmed this, and said further queries should be directed to the municipality.
Themba Sibiya, communications manager of TCLM, said the municipality will issue a formal press statement with regard to the Eskom debt. “We have received your queries and we are attending to it. We will provide you with a detailed report in due time.”
