Salga hopes to play role in alleviating energy crisis
The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has welcomed the declaration of a State of Disaster over the country’s energy crisis, and it hopes to play a central role in the process.
In an exclusive interview with Polity following last week’s State of the Nation Address tabled by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Salga president Bheke Stofile said that the energy crisis had always been a disaster for local government.
He hopes that the State of Disaster will yield positive results through centralised planning, execution and speedy responses to the challenges facing communities.
Discussing the issue of municipal debt, he said the historical trend of not paying for services in South Africa had had a negative impact on service delivery in local government.
He pointed out that municipalities were owed R290-billion by government, households and businesses.
“Generally, as a country, and if government, businesses and households were paying the municipalities, we wouldn't be having this conversation about municipalities not paying Eskom,” said Stofile.
When asked what Salga was doing to fight corruption in municipalities, Stofile acknowledged that corruption must be dealt with decisively, and described it as a cancer that is robbing ordinary citizens.
However, he added that municipalities should not be punished owing to corrupt officials [by having their power supply curtailed].
He said the current funding model of local government was not sufficient. He said if people stole, they should be arrested.
Stofile shared that Salga would be meeting with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to discuss the 9% allocated to local government which he said did not hold water and must be reviewed.
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Showroom
M and J Mining are leading suppliers of physical support systems as used by the underground mining industry. Our selection of products are not...
VISIT SHOWROOM
ESAB South Arica, the leading supplier of high-end welding and cutting products to the Southern African industrial market is based in...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
