Consumers owe millions

While residents of Msukaligwa Municipality anxiously await Eskom’s final decision on 4 June whether or not there will be interruptions of the bulk electricity supply to the area, negotiations continue behind the scenes.
The municipality’s management is currently in vigorous talks with Eskom and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to come up with a solution and hopefully avert the proposed power interruptions from 5 June should the municipality not meet its financial obligation to Eskom.
Msukaligwa Municipality is currently indebted to Eskom to the tune of R90 950 688 where, in a checkmate move, the power utility company has threatened with power outages of up to eight hours a day during the week and six hours a day over weekends.
In a meeting between the Highvelder and municipal spokesman Mr Mandla Zwane, the newspaper inquired how much the community contributes to the dilemma the municipality finds itself in.
According to Mr Zwane, as on 31 March consumers owed the municipality R314 million for services.
This debt can be broken down as follows.
Government departments owe R11 million, schools R1,9 million, businesses R62 million, households R221 million and R19 million is owed for fines and interest.
Per service breakdown, R58 million is owed for electricity, R50 million for water, R45 million for property rates, R34 million for sewerage, R35 million for refuse removal and R91 million for other services.
“The non-payment percentages per town are as follows: Ermelo 15 per cent, Wesselton 64 per cent, Breyten/KwaZanele 48 per cent, Chrissiessmeer/KwaCibikhulu 79 per cent, Davel/KwaDela 78 per cent, Lothair 83 per cent, Sheepmoor 93 per cent, Warburton 51 per cent and farms 57 per cent. This has, of course, adversely affected the provision of municipal services,” said Mr Zwane.
According to Mr Zwane, the municipal debt to Eskom has escalated since September 2011.
When asked about the municipal credit recovery plan, Mr Zwane said the municipality intends to use the services of debt collectors, a vigorous pay-for-municipal-service campaign which will commence in the not too distant future as well as naming and shaming consumers who wilfully default on payment.
The municipality has also set up a dedicated team that will do regular routine inspections and investigations of illegal connections, as the municipality has lost about R80m due to electricity theft and illegal connections in the past three years.
The National Treasury informed the newspaper that it has held meetings with the affected municipalities, including Msukaligwa. It will release the municipalities’ equitable shares that enable them to deliver services, but which Treasury withheld last month.

This will happen only after the municipality has complied with certain requirements. The municipality must provide proof of payment to Eskom and/or the Water Board; sign a payment arrangement with the relevant parties which must be affordable and realistic; a council resolution acknowledging the arrangement; and the municipality is requested to consider being subjected to a voluntary financial recovery plan, if the situation warrants it.
Msukaligwa Municipality is one of the municipalities that have not entered into a payment arrangement with the power utility.
Mr Zwane also urged members of the community who cannot afford to pay for municipal services due to unemployment or earnings less than R2 500 a month to register at the municipality for a subsidy as indigent persons.
“We also appeal to families of deceased account holders who had consumer accounts with the municipality to report such to the Municipal Finance Department. They must produce a green bar-coded South African identity document or smart card, death certificate and a copy of the consumer account.”
“Indeed, we are all in this together,” Mr Zwane concluded.

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