The DA welcomes the historic agreement between the Maluti-a-Phofung council and Eskom, a first of its kind in South Africa, Eskom will now bypass a badly run municipality to supply electricity directly to residents. Eskom will in its entirety take over the electricity function of the municipality.
In 2018, the Harrismith Business Forum went to court to stop Eskom from discontinuing the electricity supply of the municipality. A task team under Deputy President, David Mabuza, was tasked with finding a solution to the debt crisis in MaP. Following the task team’s findings the Gauteng High Court in June 2021, in an unopposed judgement, ordered the council to adopt and implement the deal. In terms of the agreement, Eskom will upgrade, maintain and manage the electricity distribution network, develop a billing system which is currently non-existent, and recoup most of the debt. Some municipal staff will be seconded to Eskom.
The DA has continuously appealed to the council that the agreement is implemented as ordered. Multiple questions have been filed in the Free State Legislature, and twice David Mabuza was directly confronted by the DA in the NCOP, on when this court order and the Eskom agreement would be enforced.
The success of this agreement will depend heavily on the cooperation of ward councillors and communities. The DA urges all residents to welcome and co-operate with the changes we are about to experience as agreed by Cabinet, and the Eskom Task Team. We will carefully monitor the implementation of the agreement over the next few months and will do everything possible to ensure that the transfer of responsibility succeeds. The DA will ensure that communities are well informed of detailed developments as they occur.
Paul Kotze
Free State Provincial Media Officer
082 853 9641
DA NEWS RELEASE