Piet Retief - The financially troubled and politically unstable Mkhondo Local Municipality (Piet Retief) in the province of Mpumalanga has rejected claims that it owes Eskom almost a billion rand for bulk supply of electricity.
This is a response to a widely circulated message to local residents which apparently came from one of the opposition councillors.
In the message, it was claimed this was the reason why the municipality -- located on the southern tip of Mpumalanga province and on the South Africa - Eswatini border -- was having perennial power cuts.
“The power cuts, which started a few years back, have left some businesses having to retrench staff, while others have completely shut down,“ reads the message, which has caused panic among residents.
In the message, the blackouts were attributed to growing demand which Eskom refused to meet because it was owed millions, thus tripping the system and plunging mainly the town of Piet Retief and surrounding townships, such as Thandukhanya, into darkness.
“The reason for internal load shedding is due to the NMD (Notified Maximum Demand) of 18MVA allowed by Eskom. 18MVA is not enough capacity for the area (town/Ethanda), which is being fed by the main substation.
“These areas need approx 40MVA. MLM (Mkhondo Local Municipality) did apply for the upgrade to 40MVA, but Eskom refuses due to the monies owed to them by the municipality. Until MLM comes forward with a viable payment plan to pay all arrears (R400m approximately) as well as paying the monthly current account. Which is not happening right now.
“New buildings keep on popping up and it puts tremendous strain on all of us. The outstanding consumers/residential/business/agriculture amount owed to the municipality is R703m. Just some information to you all as resident(s)” reads the message.
However, the acting municipality manager, Bheki Maseko, disputed this, saying the Eskom bill was not that high, yet he refused to divulge whether they were in talks with Eskom.
“We owe about R420m,” Maseko said.
Early this year it emerged in a leaked letter that mayor Mthokizisi Simelane once wrote a letter to the administration demanding answers over why the Eskom debt was allowed to accumulate when most residents of the municipality paid for electricity in advance, since they were on prepaid.
It is not clear what answer was given to him in that regard, and last week Eskom disclosed that municipalities across South Africa owed it R52 billion.
There are allegations that the municipality is facing a crippling cash crunch, to such an extent that it has been using some of the money meant for Eskom to pay staff salaries and some service providers.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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