A number of residents recently expressed their unhappiness about the City of Johannesburg not practicing what they preach when it comes to electricity usage.
A prime example of this is the Civic Centre’s lights that are burning constantly and street lights in various areas that are burning night and day.
Now another prime example of the City’s hypocrisy has emerged. It seems that though City power is quick to threaten and cut off residents’ electricity, whether by the customer’s own fault or the City’s mess of a billing system, that the City is not as keen to pay their own bill to Eskom.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question this week Pravin Gordhan, Minister of Co-operative Governance (the portfolio that also deals with municipalities) stated that municipalities around the country owe the electricity supplier R10.8 billion.
KwaZulu-Natal municipalities owe R1,27 billion, Limpopo municipalities collectively owe R314 million, Mpumalanga municipalities owe R135 million, North West owe R764 million, Northern Cape municipalities owe R225 million, and Western Cape municipalities owe R1,27 billion. The cherry on top for those at the receiving end of City Power’s bullying tactics though is that the service entity is the biggest culprit, owing Eskom R1 075 billion.
The record asked Sol Masolo, City Power spokesperson how the service entity plans to deal with the debt, how it will affect residents and whether it will affect service delivery if not dealt with soon, but is still awaiting a response.
