City of Mbombela owes Eskom R1.2b

The City of Mbombela (CoM) has the dubious honour of being one of the country’s 40 most unreliable municipalities when it comes to paying Eskom debt.

Some 257 municipalities in South Africa are all in serious arrears.

This state of affairs caused havoc during the week of December 7 when Eskom, without notice, flipped off the switch of the 40 faltering municipalities in a desperate bid to avoid going into the dreaded stage 8 load-shedding schedule.

In Mbombela, municipal workers ran around in an effort to track down the cause of the total electricity collapse, as it seemed like Eskom had not notified it of the intended cut.

The only “good” news about the situation is that CoM is not the worst payer in Mpumalanga, as eMalahleni owes Eskom more, with its unpaid bill standing at R2.7b.

According to Eskom, municipalities countrywide owe it more than R50b. Mpumalanga at R14.1b owes only R2.6b less than the Free State with its gigantic R16.7b.

On December 7, it was crunchtime for Eskom as it tried to avoid a near total collapse of the national electricity grid. Rumours doing the rounds suggested that Mbombela’s electricity was cut due to non-payment of the R1.2b account.

These were soon dispelled by Thea Rix, a DA councillor, when it was discovered that although Eskom had cut the supply without prior notice, this was not due to a penalty because of non-payment.

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Documents seen by Lowvelder indicate that the municipality had not paid any money over to Eskom since September. Neither did it honour an agreement reached with Eskom in November last year to pay off the outstanding bill in three-month intervals.

CoM committed that these instalments would be paid off from the four equitable share grants it would receive from government, and the amounts were over and above the settlement of its running account every month.

In February, the top management of the council was slaughtered about the ongoing power outages during a committee and public meeting, which was mainly due to a collapsing distribution network and specifically the Delta Substation.

During the meeting, Sibongile Makushe-Mazibuko, the mayor, committed the council to a recovery plan that it was going to draw up, and further stated that regular feedback would be given to residents. She also promised that an urgent plan would be implemented to ensure the maintenance of the electricity network. Although the plan was tabled before council months later, no information was shared with residents.

The council did manage to bring down its R999m outstanding account to around R800 000, but it quickly escalated into arrears again to the current R1.2b. Sanley van der Merwe, another DA councillor, said one of the problems contributing to the sky-high electricity bill is that Mbombela is losing just over 21% of electricity purchased due to faulty meters and illegal connections, which translates to around R14m per month, which is “lost” income.

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“Our municipality needs help to get a financial model that works. It is no longer financially sustainable and the current system of getting income just does not work anymore.

“The funds it raises and receives in grants from the national government cannot cover all its commitments. In Mbombela, we have 75% of households that do not pay rates and taxes.”

De Wet Potgieter, as resident of Kaapsehoop, said it is heartbreaking to think about how the former municipal manager, Neil Diamond, had struggled through blood and tears to sort out the council’s finances.

“When he left in 2019, Eskom was not owed any money. Now the bill is over R1b! How is this possible?

“He managed to change everything for the better when he was in charge. Now the vultures are back, scavenging what is left.”

A resident, who asked not to be named, said whoever is in control of the council and its finances, does not have a clue how to manage since Diamond left. “When he left, our total outstanding creditors were down to R700m. Now, barely five years later, the Eskom account alone is R1.2b.

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“That does not even include the other creditors or trade-payable accounts. My question is simple. If we did not pay Eskom or other outstanding accounts, where did the money go? Most definitely not allocated to basic services or general maintenance! If it weren’t for NGOs like We Care 4 Nelspruit, Mbombela would be an even bigger embarrassment.”

On social media, more and more residents are hinting that a tax revolt must be implemented.

“Our ratepayers have the right to be angry. I won’t be surprised if a rate revolt will be the nail in the coffin for the absolutely mismanaged municipality they so fondly call the ‘City of Excellence’.”

Joseph Ngala, spokesperson for the municipality, said the council did not renege its original payment plan with Eskom.

He said Eskom’s original plan to punish the 40 non-payers has been withdrawn, and this is now extended to all other municipalities in the country.

Makushe-Mazibuko told Lowvelder last Tuesday, December 13, that the current Eskom crisis was one of the urgent agenda points on that day’s council meeting, and that she would ensure that proper feedback was given to residents.