DA in Mpumalanga reveals shocking interest statistics on municipalities’ Eskom debt

HIGHVELD – Ms Trudie Grové- Morgan DA-spokesman on CoGTA, issued a press release on 21 May about municipalities debt to Eskom.
According to the statement, Mpumalanga municipalities are charged nearly R1-billion interest on their Eskom debt annually. A total of 21 municipalities are referred to.
This information was revealed in reports from the portfolio committees on Human Settlements and CoGTA.
According to the reports, the Mpumalanga provincial Eskom debt for the month of March 2020 was just over R8-billion and the total interest charged by the entity was R78 061 896.
“Assuming that such interests are charged monthly, then the entity is roughly charging municipalities in the province more than R936-million (in interest charges) over a twelve-month period,” Ms Grové-Morgan said.
The statement went on to say that the Democratic Alliance is concerned that the repayment of Eskom debt has always been an issue in our province due to non-generation of revenue, a large number of illegal electricity connections, inaccurate billing systems, and high interest charges by the entity on overdue accounts.
“The Eskom debt is extremely concerning given the fact that towards the end of 2016, we only owed Eskom R990-million,” she added.
According to the statement, Govan Mbeki owes R 1.8-billion and charged R20 645 151 interest in March.
The information taken from individual monthly reports of Govan Mbeki Municipality shows that for the period ending 29 February, the municipality owed Eskom an amount of R1.8-billion and Rand Water R246-million. During February, the municipality lost 55.94% of the electricity it bought due to issues relating to revenue generation. The municipality is owed R2-billion for services provided.
“Having such a large amount of both debtors and creditors is further hampering the ability of these municipalities to roll out services and as such they are failing to live up to their constitutional mandates.
“Lack of political will, financial mismanagement, and incompetency because of cadre deployment must be blamed for the mess in municipalities,” the statement concluded.
“Should residents vote the DA to run Mpumalanga municipalities, we will ring-fence ratepayers’ monthly electricity payments, which ANC-led municipalities have ignored for years – hence this crisis. “We find no justification for why residents should suffer due to the municipalities’ incompetence.”