Do not write off Soweto’s debt

No doubt, many loyal Democratic Alliance (DA) supporters would have gone ballistic with rage over DA Joburg mayor Mpho Phalatse’s remark that the city is exploring options to write off Soweto’s massive electricity debt.

Those loyal supporters, crippled by the rising cost of living and who have been scraping to pay their own power bills, will no doubt be wondering what is special about Soweto … and about the mayor’s clear pandering to populism.

According to Phalatse, it is impossible to recover the debt – whether by Eskom (which supplies the bulk of the electricity) or by City Power, which wants to eventually take over power supply from Eskom.

ALSO READ: City of Joburg looking into writing off Soweto’s electricity debt, says Phalatse

That may well be the case, but writing off the debt and accepting the prevailing culture of nonpayment in Soweto will not only anger and alienate people from everywhere else, it will do nothing to encourage people to pay their dues … it will do the opposite.

Madam Mayor, perhaps you should stand by for protests from other areas – as happened in Soweto, when their power was turned off.

Protests, it seems, are the only way anyone takes notice.

Many who can afford to pay in Soweto don’t. And that is theft. It should be treated as such.