By BAKANG MOKOTO
Two North West local municipalities owe Eskom R573 million. The chairperson of Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Themba Godi said Naledi local municipality in Vryburg owes the power utility R280 million, while Ditsobotla in Lichtenburg owes R293 million respectively.
Godi said Scopa has resolved to meet with the inter-ministerial task team to seek a resolution to the challenge presented by defaulting municipalities and the impact they have on Eskom. He further said the Scopa today met with Eskom, the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and the National Treasury in an effort to understand how these various entities can work together to solve this challenge.
“The committee was not satisfied with the responses from the parties, particularly on how they can work together to ensure that municipalities pay back their debt to Eskom. Scopa hopes that a meeting with the inter-ministerial task team will provide resolutions, particularly as some municipalities who are able to pay are reluctant to do so.
“Scopa has also resolved to call the top 10 defaulting municipalities to understand why they are not paying their debt. Scopa notes that the top two defaulting municipalities are in the Free State. They are Maluti A Phofung, which owes Eskom R2.8bn and Matjhabeng, which owes R1.8bn. The defaulting municipalities are eMalahleni in Mpumalanga, which owes R1.6bn, Ngwathe in Free State owes R936m, Emfuleni in Gauteng owes R606m, Govan Mbeki in Mpumalanga owes R517m, Lekwa in Mpumalanga owes R491m, Thaba Chweu in Mpumalanga owes R431m,” Godi said.
The Guardian 