If you live in Gauteng and believed Premier Panyaza Lesufi when he told a crowd of African National Congress (ANC) members that all long-standing electricity debts to Eskom have been written off — you have been duped.
Eskom said no such decision has been made and they were in fact battling to bring down municipal debt that had ballooned to R58.5 billion.
This, after Lesufi who also leads the provincial ANC, reportedly told a crowd during an ANC election campaign that customers who had been in arrears with Eskom for years would have their debt scrapped.
“All the people that were owing Eskom for years…All those debts have now been officially scrapped… We’ve [the ANC] championed that. We are starting on a new slate, all of us,” Lesufi said in a video posted to X.
According to Eskom, South Africa's municipal debt crisis has reached a new peak, with arrears hitting a staggering R58.5 billion at the end of March 2023.
This marks a significant 30% increase from the R44.7 billion recorded in the previous year. A lion's share of this debt, approximately 78%, is attributed to the top 20 defaulting municipalities.
“Eskom has not processed any debt write-offs at this stage as the Municipal Debt Relief has conditions that the municipalities must fulfil over the next three years,” Eskom said in a statement.
“Eskom would be required to process the first portion of debt write-off only after municipalities have met the set conditions to the satisfaction of the National Treasury, for twelve consecutive months,” it said.
“The Municipal Debt Relief is applicable to municipalities and does not include any other customer categories.”
Eskom said it maintains various mechanisms to assist its direct residential customers who struggle to pay their bills.
“However, as it is the case with any business, customers who do not pay their monthly accounts and fail to engage leave Eskom with no option but to implement Credit Control Management processes including interruption of service,” Eskom said.
Eskom, the national power utility, has been actively pursuing measures to collect outstanding debts, but these attempts have so far failed to stem the tide, as arrears continue to mount, it said in a statement.
A high-level and concerted effort involving multiple stakeholders is now deemed essential.
The utility is placing its hopes on the Municipal Debt Relief initiative spearheaded by the National Treasury, which is designed to assist municipalities in navigating their historical debt dilemmas and to improve Eskom's financial health.
An optimistic development has emerged as the majority of municipalities have sought out National Treasury's debt relief programme. To date, 52 municipalities have secured approval, with six receiving conditional nods.
Monde Bala, Eskom's Group Executive for Distribution, pointed out the positive trend of municipalities embracing the relief programme while acknowledging that some have yet to respond favourably. Eskom remains in active discussions with these municipalities and the National Treasury to encourage participation.
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