The DA in Mpumalanga calls on the Department of CoGHSTA to introduce strict measures to help reduce the Eskom debt in affected municipalities.
Recently, we discovered that a whopping ten municipalities in the province owe Eskom a combined total of R21.4 billion. Some of the highest contributors to this debt are:
* Emalahleni – R9.9 billion
* Govan Mbeki- R4.7 billion
* Lekwa- R2.2 billion
* The City of Mbombela- R1.6 billion
* And Thaba Chweu which owes Eskom R1.4 billion.
Notably, provincial interventions from CoGHSTA have proven ineffective. These include the integrated municipal support plan, the financial recovery approach and appointing financial experts to assist municipalities like Emalahleni and Govan Mbeki.
Recently ten municipalities in the province applied for debt relief from Eskom. These are Emalahleni, Govan Mbeki, Lekwa, Dipaleseng, Victor Khanye, Thaba Chweu, Mbombela, Mkhondo, Emakhazeni and Msukligwa. However, only Mkhondo is complying with the requirements for the debt relief programme.
It is very disappointing to note that the financial crisis has been left to deteriorate in these municipalities over the past eight years.
This goes to show that the ANC administration failed to appoint skilled administrators to ensure that adequate billing systems are put in place to address the issues of poor debt collection and the subsequent repayment of creditors.
In light of the above, municipalities like Emalahleni and Govan Mbeki are battling to keep up with their repayment plans because of their persistent inability to draw revenue from the sale of services.
Noting the severity of the financial crisis in these municipalities, we will write to the MEC of CoGHSTA , Speedy Mashilo and ask him to take a hands-on approach and consider placing some of these municipalities under administration.