WATCH: Municipal debt is too high, says Mabuza

Deputy President David Mabuza says the current municipal debt remains very high, which stands at R28 billion as of 31 March.

Answering questions in parliament during the Plenary National Assembly, the deputy president said the amounted debt increased with R8.2 billion over the past 12 months.

Mabuza said government was of the view that Eskom must be supported to implement a turn-around programme which will ensure the power utility develops and enhances its capabilities to meet the country’s energy needs.

“The recent appointment of the new CEO, the strategic direction of the power utility is now strengthened and becoming more clear.

“Government’s support focuses on ensuring Eskom strengthens its leadership, governance and accountability systems. Also address debt and liquidity challenges including debt owed to Eskom by municipalities and government entities.

“The thrust of the organisational transformation seeks to achieve significant cost reduction and savings while improving the overall efficiencies across key drivers such as expenditures on coal contracts and compensation of employees,” he said.

The deputy president confirmed that there were currently investigations in progress to detect breaches and fraudulent activities across the value chain that was core to the utility’s operations.

He said Eskom had embarked on the renegotiating its coal contracts to bring them in line with the value of money principle and achieve optimal pricing as part of achieving operational efficiencies and cost reduction,

“The political task team has committed to ensuring that the payments of outstanding debt owed to Eskom is expedited while also directing all national and provincial organs of state to settle outstanding debt with municipalities.

“Eskom has committed to completing Medupi and Kusile power stations by the revised dates of 2020 and 2023 respectively,” he said.

Mabuza welcomed the clearance of wrongdoing of Eskom’s chief operating officer (COO) Jan Oberholzer after an investigation into allegations of corruption, dishonesty, conflict of interest and abuse of power against him was conducted.

He further said the utility’s board was satisfied that the allegations against Oberholzer that were put before the senior counsel had been “fully and adequately ventilated and investigated, and that there was no cause for any action against him”.

Also going to speaking on the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), Mabuza said the council made all its decisions collectively amid the criticism Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has faced over the recent weeks.

“The NCCC consists of various ministers and they delegated tasks to complete in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. After discussions, we make the decisions together including President Cyril Ramaphosa who has the final say,” he said.

The deputy president said South African National Aids Council (Sanac) “She Conquers” campaign, which focuses on empowering and educating young girls and women about their health and safety, is very important.

“The campaign was born out of the vulnerabilities of adolescent girls and young women, experiencing violence and contracting HIV/Aids. It also raises awareness of problems that young girls and women face in this country,” he said.

He also has spoken out against gender-based violence (GBV) as violence against women was predicted to have increased during the lockdown and cases of murder and abuse have continued to emerge after the murder of 28-year-old Tshegofatso Pule earlier this month.

“Patriarchy that prevails in men needs to be addressed and broken down because men think that they’re more superior to women or believe that they own women. So therefore the men only end up doing bad things to women,” he said.

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