DA makes submission to Eskom not to suspend bulk electricity supply to FS municipalities

19 September 2017

The DA in the Free State yesterday afternoon made a submission to Eskom, motivating on behalf of the people of the province, to suspend the power utility’s intent on implementing scheduled interruptions in the supply of electricity to defaulting municipalities.

In addition, the DA has tabled motions in council in all affected municipalities calling for the immediate ringfencing of all income generated by electricity sales for the sole purposes of paying the amounts owed to Eskom as well as for the maintenance of electrical infrastructure. The motion further calls on local councils to ensure that this ringfencing stays in place until such time as all debt owed to Eskom older than 30 days is paid.

I will also request the DA’s Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), to write to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on COGTA in the National Assembly, to request a joint meeting with the Portfolio on Public Enterprises and Eskom, in order to find a workable solution that will avoid the interruption of bulk electricity supply in the Free State.

The DA maintains that municipalities must pay their Eskom accounts, but we also cannot allow a situation where paying customers and users of electricity are to be penalised as a result of the poor governance of the ANC. It would be grossly unfair for Eskom to pursue such punitive actions.

Issued by Patricia Kopane, DA Free State Leader, 19 September 2017