WATCH: Eskom repossesses property from municipality due to R645m debt

Eskom has started to collect the debt owed to them by repossessing property from the Emfuleni Local Municipality.

The power utility spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha posted a video on his Twitter account, showing property being removed from the municipality.

Mantshantsha said a court order was issued to recover R645 million in unpaid electricity debt owed to Eskom by the municipality.

“Sheriff of the Court removing Emfuleni Local Municipality property from building on Frikkie Havenga Blvd, Vanderbijlpark.

“Court order to recover R645 million in unpaid electricity debt owed to Eskom,” Mantshantsha said in a tweet.

This comes after the power utility’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Andre de Ruyter appeared before parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) last month promising to collect all the money owed to them by municipalities.

“We are progressively continuing to pursue enhanced revenue collection from municipalities that have not been paying as well as the residents of Soweto in particular. We are seeing an improvement,” De Ruyter said last month.

De Ruyter said that due to maintenance, constant load shedding outages would occur in the next 18 months.

Eskom faced several challenges including liquidity issues, leadership and governance issues, as well as operational challenges such as shortages and quality of coal, and power outages.

Sheriff of the Court removing Emfuleni Local Municipality property from building on Frikkie Havenga Blvd, Vanderbijlpark. Court order to recover R645m in unpaid electricity debt owed to @Eskom_SA. @SABCNewsOnline @SAfmnews @CapeTalk @Radio702 @kayafm95dot9 @Powerfm987 @LesediFM pic.twitter.com/t79Ymm18rk

— SikonathiMantshantsh (@SikonathiM) March 10, 2020

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