Mr President, residents in Emalahleni Local Municipality are unhappy and very worried about what is happening to the City of Coal.
This is the message entwined in a letter Messrs Johan Coetzee and Louis Wessels, the attorneys who are representing the Save Emalahleni Action Group, wrote to Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa.
In the 10-page letter they started off with the background to the intervention application and they urge the president to intervene in the municipal affairs.
“The proper functioning of the greater Emalahleni community and economy is heavily dependant upon Eskom because thousands of residents are employed by Eskom and other entities that supply coal, goods and services to Eskom.”
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Eskom is one of the main drivers of the economy of the area. The community and the local and regional economy are wholly dependent upon an uninterrupted electricity supply from Eskom.
Coetzee explained the community, of which a large portion punctually pays their electricity accounts to the municipality, are caught up between a defaulting and dysfunctional municipality.
Emalahleni’s Eskom debt escalated to R2-billion, making it the largest in the province and third largest in the country.
Mr Louis Wessels, attorney representing the Save Emalahleni Action Group, explains the essence of the letter written to the president urging him to intervene in Emalahleni’s municipal affairs.
“Emalahleni is not the preferred business destination as our whole economy is severely in distress,” Coetzee said.
The local municipality did not comment on the letter written to the president.
