The Emfuleni local municipality is expected to meet with Eskom this week to find a solution to its debt settlement plan after the power utility attached its vehicles.
On Thursday, cars belonging to the waste management and traffic departments were taken by Eskom as part of a court order which empowered the power utility to take assets of the municipality for its failure to pay it R1.3bn.
Member of the mayoral committee for finance Hassan Mako said the attachment of vehicles had serious implications for the municipality, which has been struggling to provide basic services for years.
“I have spoken to the [Eskom] CEO, Andre De Ruyter. He has assured me that they will not be auctioning any of our vehicles. It would be very naïve for them to auction those vehicles because we need them to service the people. If we are unable to service the people it definitely means that we are unable to collect revenue.
“We will be having a meeting with them on Wednesday where we will table our proposal as a municipality. We will explain to them that this is what we can afford…. We will be taking our financial statements to Eskom for them see,” Mako said.
The Emfuleni municipality said it was appealing the court decision, with the matter set to be heard in October next year.
Eskom said it does not know anything about the appeal.
Mako said the municipality was paying over R100m a month to service its Eskom debt.
He said while they would meet with Eskom, the municipality had instructed its lawyers to prepare to go to court in case no agreement was reached at the meeting.
The troubled municipality finds itself in more financial crisis after Rand Water attached its bank accounts last month for the R800m it is owed by Emfuleni.
The move had a severe impact as contractors working on a water project and the resealing of roads could not be paid.
Sowetan sent questions to Eskom stakeholder practitioner Ronel Kotze on Friday but she had not replied at the time of going to print.
Things have got even worse as the Vereeniging Business Corporation (VBC). The corporation, which is made up of 900 members, has boycotted the paying of municipal bills as the council continues failing to deliver services. The boycott has been joined by the Emfuleni Ratepayers Association and so far, 12, 000 people are participating in the boycott.
VBC director Mpho Khambule said the boycott would continue as there had been no improvement in service delivery.
“Some of our members will pay a portion of their bills. We are calling on the national government to intervene because the situation is dire at the moment.
"Businesses are suffering. As we speak, we are trying to refurbish one of the sub-stations that got damaged by a fire in Vanderbijlpark [and] there has been no electricity since Wednesday,” Khambule said.
-dlaminip@sowetan.co.za
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