D-Day looms for Eskom debt
CoGTA’s Chief Director of Municipal Finance, Joey Krishnan warned that the municipality was already falling short of the income it had anticipated.
Monday is D-Day for Newcastle Municipality to finalise its negotiations with Eskom… or be switched off.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the municipality still hadn’t presented its revised payment plan to settle the R213-million debt it owes to the energy supplier.
Eskom officials admitted things did not look good for Newcastle, and warned the power utility did not have a legal obligation to supply an existing customer which wasn’t paying for the service.
Acting Municipal Manager, Muzi Mayisela admitted the Eskom issue gives him ‘sleepless nights’.
“As the head of administration, I am very concerned that we have reached this situation. There is still a lot of uncertainty, and I am not even talking about the threat of being disconnected,” said Mayisela.
“I am talking about the fact that we have reached the stage where we are even talking about being switched off.”
A revised payment plan will be presented at a joint meeting on Monday between Eskom, Newcastle Municipality, CoGTA (the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) and KZN Treasury. Mayor, Ntuthuko Mahlaba has expressed utmost confidence that Newcastle will not be switched off.
However, Mayisela cannot say with absolute certainty Eskom will accept the revised payment plan, especially since it has turned down other payment plans submitted by the municipality previously.
For the full story, pick up a copy of the Newcastle Advertiser.
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