Darkness looms for locals

The fate of the Govan Mbeki Municipality providing electricity to consumers in the next months is uncertain.

This has left many residents and business owners in a difficult situation as they do not know what the future holds.

Eskom announced in February that the discontinuation of electricity supply in the Govan Mbeki Municipality, will be effective from 11 April following the council’s failure to honour its agreement.

The contemplated interruption of electricity supply will result in temporary scheduled disconnections at the following times:

Monday to Friday from 6am to 10am and from 5pm to 9pm.

Saturday to Sunday from 7am to 10am and 5pm to 8pm.

The Council owes Eskom about R190 million, part of which has been outstanding and escalating since January 2011.

Eskom said it is obligated to supply electricity on a financially sustainable basis.

Mr Khulu Phasiwe, Eskom spokesman, said at this stage, the situation is still the same and Eskom has not yet agreed on what the Govan Mbeki Municipality is proposing.

He said they are in discussions, but no agreement has been reached yet.

“Our doors are still open for negotiation and the municipality still has a chance to present something concrete to us before the power cuts will begin.

“It is not our priority to cut electricity, but if the municipality does not pay, we will be forced to do it.

“The challenge is that the municipalities do not speak in time if they are struggling to pay their accounts.

“Some of them do not even respond to our emails and only respond when we issue notices to cut.

“We appeal to them to come aboard and communicate with us, our doors are opened.”

Mr David Mabuza, Mpumalanga Premier, asked municipalities to consider whether they really need to distribute energy.

He said if municipalities want to continue distributing electricity, they need to consider finding alternative methods.

He said municipalities find themselves with escalating debt due to interest on the arrears, as well as penalties which suggest they are incapable of selling electricity on behalf of Eskom.

However, the Govan Mbeki Municipality is not considering to give up its position as middleman between Eskom and residents, regardless of

the struggle to pay their debts.

Mr Beki Kubheka, acting head of Communication and Marketing of the Govan Mbeki Municipality, said the Premier’s concern was on the basis that service delivery should not suffer because the municipality is spending all its revenue on Eskom.

The municipality did not respond to the media inquiries sent to them by the time of going to press.