The lights were switched off last week at, among others, clinics, police stations, courts, libraries, correctional services facilities, provincial testing and licensing stations, and magistrates’ courts in all five Ngwathe towns (Parys, Vredefort, Koppies, Heilbron and Edenville) because of millions of rands in outstanding electricity debt that, according to the Ngwathe Municipality, is owed to it by the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.

The Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is responsible for the municipal service accounts of the government departments under which these facilities fall.

According to Ngwathe Municipal Manager, Dr F.P. Mothamaha, and the municipality’s finance division, the municipal debt owed by government departments in the Ngwathe towns has already exceeded R234 million.

Action was taken last Wednesday after no response was received to final notices of intention to disconnect the electricity supply. These notices were delivered on 25 May.

Electricity supply to the police stations, courts and correctional services centre had been restored by the weekend after a payment agreement was reached with the national Department of Public Works.

Negotiations with the provincial Department of Public Works, however, are continuing.

Electricity supply to clinics was restored by Monday, said Mondli Mvambi, spokesperson for the Free State Department of Health. Mvambi also emphasised that the Department of Health, as a service-delivery department, is not responsible for the payment of electricity accounts and that this function is performed by the Free State Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).

He said that the Head of the Department of Health is engaging with Public Works through established intergovernmental and cooperative governance channels to ensure that the matter is resolved urgently. Clinics in Ngwathe have previously also been left without electricity because of non-payment.

Mvambi assured the public that all affected clinics remained open throughout and continued assisting patients. Clinic refrigerators have cold-chain capacity of up to 72 hours. In addition, alternative safe storage arrangements were put in place to maintain vaccine cold-chain requirements for longer than 72 hours, including the past weekend until electricity supply was restored.

By Tuesday, however, electricity supply to libraries and provincial traffic offices had still not been restored, according to Ngwathe. The municipality also said that it had not yet received any payments for any of the institutions affected. Tuesday was the deadline for payment arrangements, and the municipality said it would take further action if no arrangement or payment was received.

In November 2025, Ngwathe took similar action against several schools while learners were writing their final examinations. Although schools were not among the state institutions against which action was taken last week, these accounts also remain problematic, Ngwathe said. Of all the schools in Ngwathe, only four have their municipal accounts fully paid up.

Gazette directed enquiries about the matter to the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure. In telephonic feedback, the department’s spokesperson, Paul Matlanyane, attributed the interruption of the electricity supply to theft.

Ngwathe’s debt to Eskom has accumulated since 2009 to nearly R3 billion, Eskom said in April this year. Ngwathe does not charge interest on overdue municipal service accounts owed by government departments. Nevertheless, the debt continues to grow, contributing to Ngwathe’s enormous debt to Eskom.

However, it is not only electricity for which users in Ngwathe are failing to pay. Mothamaha emphasised that audits of water meters are currently being conducted, with many households not paying their service charges or water consumption accounts.