The arrears payment was however technically late as the contract required it byMay 31.This was as a result of delays in debtors transferring their pledged commitments to the municipality which was outside the time frames the municipality used in their planning.
“Some are still outstanding and disappointingly few businesses and households have made any attempt to address their arrears,” said the Acting Municipal Manager Mr Theo van Vuuren.
He said as a result of this legally Eskom has the right to cancel the repayment arrangement.
“We have requested them to not do it as the delay was outside our control and we rectified the situation as soon as we could. We have not yet received an official response on this request,” Van Vuuren said last night.
Some good news is that indications are Emalahleni will not at this stage be interrupted unless the municipality defaults again.
“It is not our intention to default but our ability to meet the payment conditions remain dependant on a range of factors, especially increasingly the corresponding responsibility of businesses, households and government to meet their current obligations as well to start paying on arrears. Therefore, given the experience I have gained in this municipality over the past two years, nothing can absolutely be guaranteed,” Van Vuuren said.
The municipality’s latest current account payment of R47-million is payable on June 12. At this point the municipality needs R34-million to make up the requested amount.
“Given the large amount we paid earlier this week our cash levels are under pressure but will need to and will do all we can to meet this commitment. I believe that we will be well on our way to recovery should we manage this payment as the next scheduled payment after June 12 will only be on July 14. This will allow sufficient time where at this stage we are continuously running against time deadlines,” he said.
He urges everyone who has not yet settle their last account received from the municipality to do so before Friday as every Rand is needed to ensure that the municipality meet this deadline.
“Should we fail or are late again we will be in default and the likeliness to be bulk interrupted will increase.”
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