A dramatic twist took place in the application to prevent Eskom from leaving Emalahleni Local Municipality in the dark.
The Save Emalahleni Action Group withdrew their application against Eskom on August 13.
Mr Johan Coetzee, the lawyer who is behind the drive to keep the lights on said the interim order granted in December 2017 to prevent Eskom from bulk electricity interruption created a payment holiday for the municipality.
Emalahleni’s monthly accounts, inclusive of VAT, for electricity consumed amounted to approximately R690-million. Of that amounts the municipality only paid approximately R301-million. That means a shortfall of roughly R390-million.
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“The municipality utilised the proceeds of the accounts collected from their customers to fund its day to day operations. Eskom was only paid with whatever was left. The consequence is that the Eskom debt increased to more than R2-billion,” Coetzee said.
Coetzee is now turning his focus to the intervention from provincial and national government.
In the intervention application Coetzee is seeking an order to compel the provincial and national executives to initiate a mandatory intervention into the affairs of the municipality to ensure long-term sustainability and ability to settle the Eskom debt.
The hearing of the interventions application has been set down for October 9 to 11.
