New sources of support sought to keep power on
An amount of R600 000 has to be paid upfront for legal costs to advocates, who will once again bring an application against Eskom to interdict it from scheduling another planned electricity curtailment against TCLM.
LYDENBURG – With national loadshedding and the possible disconnection of the town of Graskop and Duma substation in Lydenburg, this town could be left without power for more than 16 hours.
Eskom is now seeking to overturn the ruling by the High Court granted in 2018 in favour of the three combined business chambers of Lydenburg, Graskop and Sabie.
This ruling prevented the power giant from cutting the electricity to these towns. In order to defend the ruling before the High Court of Appeal, support from businesses and the public in the jurisdiction of Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) is needed.
An amount of R600 000 has to be paid upfront for legal costs to advocates, who will once again bring an application against Eskom to interdict it from scheduling another planned electricity curtailment against TCLM. A notice from Eskom placed in local newspapers last year confirmed the possible interruption of bulk electricity supply on account of non-payment by TCLM.
This could plunge these towns in the dark for more than half a day – if national loadshedding should also occur. The cut-off date for public representations, submissions, comments and/or requests was on December 23. From today there is a mere six days left before the towns could face this nightmare for a second time.
According to Gwilym Rees, from the combined business chambers of Lydenburg, Sabie and Graskop, as well as the ratepayers association of these towns, the outlook is rather bleak. “Since York Timbers have confirmed that they will not be funding another court case on behalf of the towns, we now have no other alternative as to ask businesses and even individuals to contribute in order for us to go to court again.
“We need about R1 million to budget and cover all legal fees. We have spoken to our attorneys and we are awaiting a reply from them on whether this will be in order,” Rees explained. He said that without that option at hand, “we have got no chance”.
Rupert Culwick, chairman of the Sabie Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, told Steelburger/ Lydenburg News that York Timbers has for years supported Sabie by filling in the for the lack of basic services from TCLM. “This included supplying large generators to power the water pumps during the Eskom power-cutting period.
“Unfortunately, the board feels that York can no longer spend the fairly substantial money doing the work of the local municipality. This organisation, as you probably already know, is riddled with corruption and they refuse to release the forensic audit report done by the auditorgeneral’s office,” Culwick said.
The implementation of the power interruptions is expected to commence on January 23. In the first week, power will be disconnected for six-and-a-half hours on weekdays and seven-and-a-half hours on weekends; morning and afternoon. In the second week, should there be no change or agreement reached between TCLM and Eskom, the hours will be extended to 14 hours a day. Include national load-shedding and these hours increase to more than 16 hours without power.
Businesses in Lydenburg, corporates and the public who want to contribute towards the funds needed to defend against Eskom’s application can do so by depositing funds into the bank account of the Lydenburg/Mashishing Business Chamber.
The reference should be clearly marked for this purpose. A trust account from the defence attorneys is still in the process of being opened. Banking details: Lydenburg/ Mashishing Business Chamber: Absa Lydenburg. Account number: 9207308400. Branch code: 632005.
TCLM’s Themba Sibiya, communications manager, responded to the current Eskom predicament and said preliminary talks had taken place where a new repayment plan was presented for consideration. “We are currently waiting for a response regarding the proposal from Eskom. There will be follow-up engagements with the power utility regarding this matter.” The last meeting between TCLM and Eskom took place on December 19. “All these efforts we are making to engage Eskom are to ensure that there are no disconnections. The last payment was made in December which was an amount of R21 516 356,06. The next payment is only due at the end of January. The municipality does not anticipate any power cuts currently,” Sibiya said.
