Debt break for Soweto is a no-go

Gauteng’s new premier, Panyaza Lesufi, has long been a lover of the photo opportunity or news headline… and has shown an uncanny knack for pushing his own political image through the media.

So, it was no surprise, then, to see him playing the populist card by calling on the government to write off another R5 billion in debt which the residents of Soweto owe to Eskom. By doing so, his argument ran, the government would “reposition” townships, informal settlements and hostels as “centres for growth”.

We wonder, premier, if there was a stimulus to the economy of Soweto the last time its debt was written off – to the extent of R8 billion just two years ago, in 2020?

Perhaps he was hoping to capitalise on the government’s seeming abandonment of the disastrous e-toll project (which Lesufi and others in the Gauteng ANC claim to have been fighting against) and its partial bailout for Eskom. But the electricity debt in Soweto cannot be compared to e-tolls, which were effectively a secondary tax on taxpayers who had already paid for that road infrastructure.

However, his plea does highlight the intractable problem of our culture of non-payment. And, while there is definitely much financial hardship in Soweto and other townships and informal settlements around the country, the reality is that there are many in those areas who can afford to pay, but won’t.

ALSO READ: E-tolls gone for good, now to tackle crime and corruption – Lesufi

Yet, even cutting them off is not much of a deterrent as the huge number of illegal connections eloquently prove.

Writing off this sort of debt around the country will only shift the burden to taxpayers already suffering under one of the highest tax regimes in the world. It will also set a dangerous precedent as other paying consumers start to default on all statutory charges. That will plunge the country into the financial abyss.