Eskom: ANCYL blames whites, govt dept for debts

172
Power cuts owing to Eskom debts by municipalities in the province are having a serious effect of the lives of residents. PICTURE BY Timeslive

The league came out of a meeting with municipal officials and pointed at white businesspeople and government departments for the Eskom debts.


League spokesman Thulasizwe Thomo said if white businesspeople and the various government departments were to pay the municipality “like now, the municipality will be able to settle the debts in seconds”.

The ANCYL in the Gert Sibande region of Mpumalanga on Wednesday this week met with officials of the Msukaligwa local municipality in Ermelo concerning a whopping R145.8 million that the municipality owes to Eskom which has risen from R139m in just over a year.

“The meeting was characterised by healthy, high-level, matured and progressive debates,” Thomo said on Wednesday.

He said; on the table, municipal officials explained to them that the municipality has not been able to pay the debts to Eskom, which has resulted to power-cuts “badly affecting” residents, due to “numerous factors”.

“Among these factors is no-payment by some businesses who are currently owing over R103m and surprisingly majority of these businesses are owned by white people,” Thomo said.

He said these were affiliates of the Ermelo Business Association and was led by quite racist whites who “have strong hatred for black people”.

EBA leader Athol Stark has in the past taken the Msukaligwa municipality head-on for what he said was “absolute failure to administer”.

“Stark is forever complaining and have strong hatred for black people but surprisingly he doesn’t talk about the R103m owed by EBA affiliates”.

Various government departments owe the Msukaligwa municipality an amount of R140m, which is R245m together with the amount owed by EBA affiliates.

Thomo said if these stakeholders were to pay the municipality “like now, the municipality will be able to settle the debts in seconds”.

We have instructed and mandated the mayor to as of tomorrow lead a campaign to cut-off electricity in all the aforementioned stakeholders and give them an ultimatum on when they should settle all these debts.

SEE ALSO: eMalahleni power cuts resume on 3 March

Eskom has asked the Msukaligwa municipality to pay R50m in order to avoid power-cuts and the municipality has so far paid R28 million and is currently owing R22 million “to settle the R50 million threshold agreement”.

(edited by MLM)

Send tips to editor@013.co.za