HIGHVELD – The Govan Mbeki Municipality has confirmed that the lights will stay on.
This came after the municipality held several meetings with Eskom regarding its notice to cut power supply in the area.
Eskom issued a notice earlier this month that the electricity supply will be terminated, because of the council’s failure to pay its account.
Eskom warned the municipality that it is in breach of the supply agreement entered into between the GMM and Eskom.
The total amount outstanding on the arrear account is R49.6-million.
Eskom said the payment agreement states that if payment is not made within 15 days from the billing date, Eskom may discontinue the supply without notice of termination.
Mr Benzi Soko, chief of staff, confirmed that the engagements have yielded positive outcomes.
He said Eskom will not implement the notice, because the municipality has reached an agreement pertaining to the amount that they wanted.
“For the record, GMM is paying Eskom on a weekly basis in order to service the debt.
“The same approach applies to Rand Water.
“We are working around the clock in our quest to address these matters as efficiently and seriously as possible.
“It is therefore against this background that we reiterate our clarion call to all residents and business owners to pay for the services rendered by the municipality.
“We are implementing Operation Ruthula to deal with electricity theft through bridging.”
He said the municipality is intensifying this operation across the board.
People are strongly encouraged to use the GMM Debt Incentive Scheme to pay their accounts and make credible arrangements.The Sakhisizwe Progressive Movement said it is saddened by Eskom’s constant threats to switch off the electricity supply in Govan Mbeki Municipality.
The party said the power giant has just received a bail out from the tax payers’ coffers and now they are threatening the very hand that feeds them.
“However, we also blame the minister of finance for agreeing to fund the corruption pithole in the form of Eskom, without thinking about the residents of the country. If the cabinet channeled the funds towards reducing municipal debts to Eskom, it would be justifiable,” said Mr Sibusiso Hlolweni, Sapromo’s leader.
He claims that an agreement was reached between Eskom and GMM to pay R4 million a week.
“We cannot guarantee that we will have this R4 million every week as agreed by the municipality.”
In a separate incident, electricity problems continues in eMbalenhle. Some parts of eMbalenhle have been without electricity since Thursday, 14 September.
The area that was affected included Extensions seven, 11 and 26.
The Govan Mbeki Municipality said breakers in the Extension 5 Substation has blown up.
The municipality said technicians are attending to this problem and that due to the extent of the damage the restoring of electricity might take longer.
Electricity has been restored in some extensions be Monday, 18 November.
