R8b Eskom debt: Court judgment expected on Emfuleni salaries

Thousands of Emfuleni municipal employees and councillors face uncertainty as they await a high court judgment this week regarding the lifting of Eskom’s attachments on the municipality’s bank accounts and their salaries.

Judgment is expected either today or Wednesday, leaving municipal workers, managers, and councillors in suspense as they approach the 25th of the month, when salaries are due.

Last week, the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) brought an urgent application in the Johannesburg High Court to remove the attachments on four bank accounts. These attachments threaten not only the timely payment of salaries but also the municipality’s service delivery.

Under debt relief rules, ELM is shielded from legal action related to its R8b debt to Eskom while it is part of the programme. Last week, the National Treasury confirmed for the second time that the municipality remains a beneficiary of the programme.

Eskom and ELM had been engaged in court-ordered negotiations to reach an agreement that would allow Eskom to manage the municipality’s electricity infrastructure and revenue, paying its share of the costs. These negotiations stemmed from a 2023 court action by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce, which also enabled all ELM account holders to pay Eskom directly for electricity. However, talks have reached an impasse.

In a related development, a Vaalweekblad investigation into the National Treasury’s debt relief programme uncovered a potential conflict of interest. Andile Dyakala, the former ELM CFO who was dismissed after a protracted disciplinary process, now works on Treasury’s municipal debt programme.

Dyakala is employed by a company called EKSS, which secured a tender with Treasury to assist in the financial management of the Municipal Debt Relief programme. While Treasury has confirmed in writing that Dyakala is involved in this work, it has not yet addressed concerns raised by Vaalweekblad about the potential for Dyakala to influence matters against his former employer, ELM.