One would think that Emalahleni, which is surrounded by mines and power stations, would be a thriving hub with a healthy bank balance.
On the contrary, the local municipality has once again failed to meet its commitments to Eskom. The electricity giant is planning to interrupt power supply to the municipality in November.
Eskom put a notice in WITBANK NEWS on September 8 where they set out their plans to discontinue power to the municipality.
The power utility plans to interrupt electricity from Mondays to Fridays for eight hours a day. And on weekends consumers will have no electricity for six hours a day.
The municipality’s Eskom account ballooned to R1 190 746 629. This amount is part of the outstanding debt from 2012 that could not be settled by the municipality. Eskom and the municipality have previously agreed that Eskom will be paid R4-million a day to try and catch up with the amount in arrears.
Residents are furious to say the least.
Local resident Ms Dorothy Notman Sinclair commented on social media,
“I am extremely annoyed with this decision! Seriously we are on prepaid and we pay our rates and taxes every month. Why do we all have to be punished because other people do not pay their accounts! Switch off the electricity to the people who are not paying their accounts or is the municipality so useless that they don’t know who is paying their accounts or not!? This is totally unacceptable! It is our right to have electricity and water, especially when those who are paying their accounts have to be punished as well! Fine the people who are not paying their accounts! We need to pay all our money into a trust where we can prove that we do pay our accounts! Seriously I am very, very angry! Something has to be done about our useless municipality! Fire the incompetent people and employ people who know what they are doing!”
Read the FULL STORY in the WITBANK NEWS out today
ALSO READ
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/99003/breaking-news-lights-off/
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/99008/municipality-must-pay-eskom-r4-million-day/
