Eskom debt will only be discussed on 28 May

SECUNDA – The Govan Mbeki Municipality’s payment plan to Eskom will only be discussed at the next Council meeting on 28 May.

A special council meeting was held on Wednesday afternoon, but was postponed because ANC councillors said Council needs to discuss the plan further.

The opposition parties were unhappy when ANC members raised the motion that the matter is referred to the next council meeting.

This municipality owes Eskom about R184-m which Council said can be attributed to the failure of residents paying their municipal accountd, electricity theft and illegal connections.

Council also said the interest accumulated on people paying less on their municipal accounts and none payments has also contributed to the problem.

Ms Lindi Masina, Executive Mayor, said Council has put systems in place to pay Eskom.

“R30 million of the debt has already been paid on 14 May after a meeting with Eskom.”

She did not elaborate on where this money had come from.

“We have put measures in place to cut all spending.

“Among these are the catering for meetings and other events, the organising of workshops, printing costs, the buying of expensive furniture and the hiring of staff only in critical positions.”

■ Eskom plans to interrupt bulk electricity supply to the top 20 defaulting municipalities across the country from June.

“As at 31 March 2015, the total municipal arrears debt greater than 30 days was R4.6 billion,” Eskom said in a statement.

Of this amount, the top 20 defaulting municipalities are currently indebted to Eskom to the amount of R3.68 billion for the bulk supply of electricity.

The Govan Mbeki Municipality is one of these defaulting municipalities.

Eskom said it was contemplating a regulated interruption of electricity from Mondays to Fridays from 6am to 10am and from 5pm to 9pm and on Saturdays and Sundays from 7am to 10am and from 5pm to 8pm.