- The new premier of South Africa’s Gauteng Province, Panyaza Lesufi, wants around R5 billion owed to Eskom by Soweto residents, written off.
- Lesufi made the request in a series of Tweets on the weekend.
Our argument remains, if Eskom debt is taken over by the central government, what our people owe Eskom in townships, informal settlements and hostels must also be scrapped. We need to reposition out townships, informal settlements and hostels so that they can be centres of growth
— Panyaza Lesufi (@Lesufi) October 27, 2022
Eskom, with its own debt crisis, has had limited success in managing outstanding municipal debt, which has escalated to unsustainable levels. As at 30 September 2021, total municipal debt was at R40.9 billion. Read more
Eskom’s Chief Financial Officer, Calib Cassim, has previously stated that: “It is clear Eskom cannot solve municipal debt challenges on its own. Continued support and cooperation from government and all key stakeholders is crucial to address the root causes of the problem. As such, we are grateful for the support by the Eskom Political Task Team (PTT) led by the Deputy President and its Multidisciplinary Revenue Committee (MdRC), although much still needs to be done to achieve the desired results.”
Related news: Eskom wins judgement Against Municipality for R1.3 billion debt
Eskom is in the process of rolling out pre-paid meers in Soweto. Last month, Daphne Mokwena addressed residents at the Soweto Theatre, “The amount is about R5 billion that is owed to Eskom. Once we have installed the prepaid meters, we will monitor your purchases for 36 months and park your debt. We are engaging with the city, about a month ago we had another engagement with the city,” she said.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
