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Eskom owed over R2bn for electricity supply by Eastern Cape municipalities News24 Wire
Image: Supplied. Some of these municipalities have allowed their debts to balloon out of control by not paying.
Eighteen of the 38 municipalities in the Eastern Cape owe Eskom an outstanding debt of more than R2 billion for bulk electricity supply.
This was revealed by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha this week who responded to written legislature questions asked by DA MPL Vicky Knoetze.
Nqatha revealed the collective Eskom debt of Eastern Cape municipalities had reached a shocking R2.157 billion, of which R1.322 billion was in excess of 90 days.
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Eighteen of the 38 municipalities in the Eastern Cape owe Eskom more than R2 billion for bulk electricity supply.
Eskom said despite offering payment arrangements to accommodate the struggling municipalities, these were not always honoured by some of the councils.
Residents staying within the municipalities have been enduring rolling power outages as Eskom cuts electricity supply to force the councils to pay up.
Eighteen of the 38 municipalities in the Eastern Cape owe Eskom an outstanding debt of more than R2 billion for bulk electricity supply.
This was revealed by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha this week who responded to written legislature questions asked by DA MPL Vicky Knoetze.
(Amathole District Municipality, Facebook)
The municipality can t afford to pay its salary bill of R65 million per month.
People in the six local municipalities under Amathole have been enduring interrupted and unreliable service for three years.
The embattled Amathole District Municipality has been placed under administration.
The Eastern Cape government announced on Thursday morning that its executive council had taken a decision to invoke Section 139 (5) (a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa into the affairs of the district authority.
The Constitution states that the provincial government may impose the Section 139 (5) (a) if a municipality, as a result of a crisis in its financial affairs, is in serious or persistent material breach of its obligations to provide basic services or to meet its financial commitments, or admits that it is unable to meet its obligations or financial commitments.