Sunday, 06 September 2020: In
response to the non-payment of the municipality’s outstanding R3.4 billion debt
for the provision of bulk electricity, Eskom on 04
September 2020 attached a bank account belonging to the Matjhabeng Local
Municipality. This followed a court order granted in 2014, and resulted in the account
being frozen. Eskom is in the process of establishing the balance and
transferring the funds in the account to Eskom, to help recover some of the
money owed by the municipality.
Eskom
will continue to explore all available legal avenues to ensure that outstanding
municipal debt is recovered. This step on the part of Eskom is a result of the
repeated failures by the municipality to adhere to its payment obligations to
Eskom for the bulk supply of electricity. Since 2020 Eskom has only received
five payments from the municipality amounting to R66.5 million, against a total
bill of R1.3 billion for the period.
Eskom
has been involved in numerous court processes since 2014, when the
municipality’s outstanding debt totalled R372 million, and employed other
collection mechanisms to recover the funds. The municipality has consistently
failed to honour its obligations and payment agreements, as well as court
orders, resulting the debt escalating to R3.4 billion over the period.
The total outstanding municipal debt of
R31 billion as at end July 2020 continues to threaten Eskom’s sustainability.
Municipalities have a responsibility to fulfil their financial obligations for
the bulk supply of electricity.
ENDS