Emfuleni municipality reaches agreement to settle debt owed to Eskom

18th March 2020

By: Simone Liedtke

Creamer Media Social Media Editor & Senior Writer

     

Font size: - +

State-owned power utility Eskom, led by CEO André de Ruyter, met with senior officials of the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and executive mayors on Tuesday to resolve issues around the debt owed by municipalities to Eskom.

The meeting was convened by Gauteng Human Settlements, Urban Planning and CoGTA MEC Lebogang Maile following legal action taken by Eskom to attach assets of the Emfuleni local municipality to recover R2.3-billion from the municipality.

According to Maile, the meeting signaled “the beginning of much-needed coordination between government and various organs of State” to ensure a systematic, holistic approach in resolving issues that might hinder delivery of service to communities.

Subsequently, Eskom and the municipality have agreed to work closely to promote a culture of paying for services on time, starting with municipalities and moving down to communities.

This will afford Eskom an opportunity to meet its own obligations with its lenders.

In Gauteng alone, Eskom is owed more than R3.7-billion by a number of municipalities, with the exception of the Ekurhuleni metropolitan; the City of Johannesburg and the Midvaal local municipality.

The Emfuleni municipality agreed to pay Eskom R50-million by close of day on Wednesday − Eskom has subsequently confirmed receipt of the money − while the power utility agreed to suspend the seizure of Emfuleni's assets.

Eskom and the municipality will work out a feasible, sustainable and affordable payment plan for consideration by both parties, and the Emfuleni local municipality will, henceforth, pay Eskom its monthly accounts in full.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gauteng CoGTA said it would also prioritise all efforts to assist the Merafong municipality and the Rand West municipality, which have accumulated unpaid debts of R377-million and R355-million, respectively.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

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?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION