The City of Johannesburg has started negotiations which will see it taking over the supply of electricity in Soweto, Orange Farm, Ivory Park and Diepsloot.
Johannesburg mayor Geoffrey Makhubo made the announcement during his state of the city address yesterday , saying there is continuous electricity supply disruption for extended periods in these townships which has become a serious concern to his administration.
These areas currently get power directly from Eskom.
“We’ve started to engage seriously with Eskom to find a lasting solution to this electricity crisis with the view of taking full control as a city. Similarly, we must mobilise to curb illegal connections in communities which plunges the communities into darkness,” Makhubo said.
In an interview with Sowetan after the address, Makhubo said part of the negotiations include the issue of debt from the townships which must be resolved.
Soweto alone owes Eskom billions.
Other issues on the table in the negotiations between Eskom, the city, the , National Treasury, the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, SA Local Government Association and the department of public enterprises, are what will happen to Eskom employees who are servicing these areas and how the assets will be transferred.
A task team, led by MMC for environment and infrastructure services Mpho Moerane, is also engaging in the negotiations.
“The lives of our councillors and families of our councillors are under threat. Whenever the lights are off in the township, they do not march to Eskom, they march to the councillor. The councillor calls us and says ‘I’m under attack” on something we have no control over…” Makhubo said.
He expects an agreement to be reached on the electricity supply takeover by the end of the year.
Over the past few years, residents in these four townships have had to deal with serious disruption of electricity supply from the power utility.
In some instances, distributions boxes would breakdown and when residents call Eskom to come and fix the problem, the power utility first wants them to settle their electricity accounts.
This has left some of the communities, who have the majority of residents not paying for power, without electricity for months. Illegal connections have also resulted in a lot of power outages.
The electricity crisis in Soweto got so bad that residents who have not had supply for months approached the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg but the case was struck of the roll. The residents wanted to pay a flat rate to Eskom.
Makhubo declined to divulge details of how the city believes the debt issue has to be resolve.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.