Image for illustrative purposes. Picture: iStock
Four municipalities in the Free State face disconnection by Eskom over a combined R4.9 billion debt.
The Nala, Moqhaka, Masilonyana and Ngwathe local municipalities were notified on Thursday that they had roughly eight weeks to address the arrears.
The four councils have been engaged in various interventions in recent years, with Eskom stating they had exhausted their options under the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and related legislature.
Masilonyana and Nala have outstanding accounts of R227 million and R936 million each, while Moqhaka and Ngwathe owe Eskom R1.5 billion and R2.3 billion, respectively.
Towns affected include, but would not be limited to, Bothaville and Wesselsbron in Nala, and Kroonstad, Steynsrus and Viljoenskroon in Moqhaka.
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Residents in Ngwathe who are facing a dark Easter weekend include Parys, Heilbron, Phiritona, Edenville Vredefort and Koppies.
Masilonyana covers Brandfort, Theunissen, Verkeerdevlei and Winburg.
“Eskom hereby notifies all stakeholders and residents of the municipalities whose rights are likely to be materiality and adversely affected of its intention to reduce, interrupt or terminate the supply of electricity to specific areas within the municipality with effect from 17 April,” the national energy supplier stated.
Payment issues at Ngwathe date back to 2009 and have been under intense scrutiny by Eskom since 2022.
Like the other three municipalities facing disconnection in April, Ngwathe was placed under debt relief measures in March 2023.
Despite monthly invoices ranging between R30 million and R57 million, Ngwathe has paid Eskom just R49 million in the last 14 months, including two payments of R11 million and eight monthly payments of R1 million.
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Moqhaka’s R1.5 billion bill began accumulating in 2016, with Eskom offering assistance in February 2022.
Between December 2023 and May 2024, the municipality made no payments to Eskom, following that streak with round payments ranging between R5 million and R10 million.
The Nala municipality has not paid Eskom since September and has only made three payments totalling R19 million since December 2023, despite 13 invoices amounting to R204 million.
Similarly, Masilonyana has only paid R2.3 million to Eskom since December 2023 and went nine consecutive months in 2024 without paying the utility.
“Eskom appreciates the hardships the communities and the economy will suffer should it exercise its statutory powers to disconnect the municipalities,” the utility stated.
“There are no other meaningful options available for Eskom to stop the debt from growing and to collect for current consumption on bulk supply,” Eskom explained.
Affected communities may submit written representations and comments to Eskom by 13 March with the final decision to be taken by 3 April.
The office of the Free State Premier acknowledged a request for comment, which will be added when forthcoming.
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance in the Free State legislature, Freedom Front Plus’ Armand Cloete, said the provincial government had failed to act despite adequate warning.
“All four municipalities applied for and were approved to make use of Eskom’s debt relief programme as announced by the president,” Cloete told The Citizen.
“In a MFMA section 71(7) report on the status of municipalities tabled in August 2024, it was very clear even then that the municipalities failed to reach the 50% compliance on the conditions to the debt relief programme,” he explained.
“The harsh reality is that, under the ANC, the state is owing itself billions of rands. In the Free State, it is residents who ultimately are being held hostage owing to the intergovernmental debt crisis the ANC created,” Cloete said.
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