Eskom to appeal ruling over Maluti a Phofung bank account

Eskom has filed leave to appeal Friday's judgment which saw the struggling municipality regain control over its bank account, months after Eskom had been granted an attachment order.

Men play soccer beneath Eskoms elecricity pylons, amid a nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown in Soweto, south-west of Johannesburg, South Africa August 20, 2020. PiREUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Embattled power utility Eskom says it has filed an application for to appeal Friday’s ruling which saw the utility’s attachment of the Maluti a Phofung’s bank accounts lifted.

Eskom managed to successfully attach the municipality’s bank account on 21 July, after the latter failed to honour a payment arrangement which would see it cover a portion of its more than R5 billion debt to Eskom.

This ground-breaking judgement meant Maluti a Phofung was the first municipality to have it bank account attached, after Eskom had previously attached assets from it and other municipalities for failure to pay their power bills.

The utility in July even released some funds from the account, in order to assist the municipality in paying its salaries and other bills.

A judgment on Friday, however, returned the account to the power of the municipality, ordering that the attachment be immediately lifted.

In a statement released early on Saturday morning, Eskom said “The Municipality’s continuous non-payment of their current account is resulting in further escalation of their overdue debt and poses a serious threat to Eskom’s financial viability and the survival of the utility. The increasing debt owed by Maluti a Phofung forces Eskom to take drastic steps to address this undeniable risk.”