It has been a year since Eskom threatened to cut electricity to eMalahleni.
Next week Wednesday, December 12 the municipality’s fate lies in the hands of Judge Wendy Hughes when she has to decide whether Eskom can cut the electricity supply to the municipality.
The power utility’s patience is running out with the municipality that does not meet their payment agreement every month.
“If the court rules in favour of Eskom I am positive that Eskom will give the municipality space wherein an agreement can be reached within the framework of the intervention. But Eskom will then lay the foundation on very strict conditions,” said local attorney Mr Johan Coetzee who heads the Save Emalahleni Action Group.
“We are confident that the court will rule in our favour,” said municipal spokesperson Mr Kingdom Mabuza.
But if the scale tilts Mabuza said they have a back-up plan.
“We have a plan which is contained in the Financial Recovery Plan, but before we can make it public, council must approve or disapprove it first.”
The Eskom account is now a staggering R2-billion. The current account is R96-million and they are in arrears with R2.2-million.
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In August the municipality paid Eskom R26-million, September R45-million, October R31-million and November 24-million.
These payments don’t even make a dent in the increasing account.
The Eskom problem has been ongoing for years.
In May 2016 an agreement was reached between Eskom and the municipality which allowed for the repayment of the outstanding capital arrears over two years. It contained a very important clause whereby interest would be suppressed. The interest then was estimated to reach R115-million.
Four months later the municipality was falling more and more behind on their current accounts. The former municipal manager Mr Theo van Vuuren blamed the winter months and said higher consumer consumption led to accounts of R130-million during the winter period where it usually hovers between R40- to R60-million.
Then came 2017 and the municipality shifted the blame to consumers not paying their accounts.
But how is it possible to pay an account if you do not receive a bill?
The municipality switched over to a new financial system and from there matters just got worse.
Apart from not receiving accounts at all and receiving accounts long after month end, the amounts reflected on the accounts were and still is total confusion. Residents with prepaid meters are billed for electricity, enormous amounts are charged for water and electricity, and payments do not reflect on accounts.
It has been more than 18 months since the Phoenix financial system was introduced. And still the municipality has to rectify accounts every month, reverse amounts and listen to countless complaints, but nothing has been done to keep the service provider of the Phoenix Financial system accountable.
The latest excuse for the accounts that were still not available at the beginning of the week is that they have decided to change the format of the accounts to make it more user friendly for the consumer. But like everything else associated with this financial system, this idea also backfired.
At the end of 2017 the Save Emalahleni Action group successfully applied for an urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria to stop Eskom from flicking the switch.
But history is repeating itself, because instead of a jolly Christmas atmosphere residents and businesses are holding thumbs that they will have electricity to light up Christmas trees this year.
“Eskom should teach this municipality a lesson or two. Residents and businesses are going to get the shortest end of the stick, but then just maybe provincial and national government will realize that this problem is not going to be solved overnight,” said concerned businessman Mr Eric Cornish.
