Crisis meetings today with Premier, ELM and Vaal business sector

At the forefront of Lesufi’s concerns and that of his Cabinet MECs – all expected at two planned meetings today in Boksburg and later in Vanderbijlpark – are critical service delivery disruptions since December by Eskom’s seizure of municipal bank accounts and vehicle fleet.

Scores of business service providers also remain unpaid by ELM since the Eskom bank attachment blitz in early December, although it has now in both December and January grudgingly allowed municipal salaries to be paid late from seized bank accounts after intense negotiations.

Lesufi could announce a settlement in the destructive months-long stand-off between ELM and Eskom over R6 billion, and counting, municipal debt owed to the bulk utility provider at his planned Vanderbijlpark meeting.

Eskom and Rand Water are both expected to attend Lesufi’s first meeting in Boksburg today, which will also be attended by ELM Executive Mayor Sipho Radebe and his coalition Government of Local Unity (GLU), the Provincial Government has confirmed.

Lesufi is keen to avoid at all costs a third politically and economically damaging delayed salary run by ELM next week, when the SA Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) is expected to again picket against both Eskom and ELM.

Emfuleni is also the centre of the politically and environmentally-sensitive Vaal River sewage clean-up project with a R7 billion national budget managed by Rand Water, which is now already independently managing and refurbishing ELM’s water and sanitation infrastructure and crisis.

SAMWU has demanded that Eskom stop its attachment of ELM bank accounts and assets due to these impacting destructively on communities and employees – and killing the proverbial service delivery Golden Goose that gives revenue to Eskom as well.

ELM’s coalition GLU – in power fully only since Gauteng lifted partial administration status at end-September last year – also reportedly intends telling Lesufi that  Eskom has violated internal Government guidelines and seized all grant funding intended for service delivery in 2023.

The GLU says it is one of the most politically-stable coalition Governments in Gauteng and had already taken steps to improve service delivery and appoint permanent officials in acting senior positions before Eskom’s secret seizure blitz in December.

The appointment of a permanent ELM Municipal Manager is expected in the near future after the post was advertised last year.

In December 2022 alone, Eskom seized at least R327 million from ELM including almost all of a R300 million grant paid by national Government specifically for service delivery and infrastructure – Eskom bank attachments were timed to coincide with these payments, according to an embittered GLU.

Eskom has however only in recent weeks returned the impounded ELM vehicle fleet seized in December in a pre-Christmas blitz which also left thousands of service providers, councillors and employees without payment or late salaries.

Only the direct intervention of both Lesufi and State  Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan with Eskom resulted in attachment of ELM accounts being temporarily lifted in December to allow pre-Christmas payments. However, service providers were not paid and many remain unpaid at present.

The sticking point between Eskom and ELM is said to be further payment to the bulk utility of R71 million and deploying Eskom cadres to manage electricity infrastructure and revenue directly, which the GLU sees as contributing to corruption by known crime syndicates within Eskom itself.

Electricity sales form the bulk of ELM’s revenue from local sources.

This is a developing story.