South Africa’s municipalities owe the
South Africa’s electricity minister has raised concerns about the failure of municipalities to settle their bills with the state-owned power company, Eskom.
In a media briefing held on Sunday, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said that municipalities owed Eskom 63.2bn rand ($3.3bn; £2.6bn).
He said this erodes “the bottom line” of Eskom and means the company is “not in a position” to respond to the country’s electricity challenges.
Mr Ramokgopa added that the debt had increased by 4.7bn rand over the past year.
“We are adding more and more debt to Eskom and undermining Eskom’s ability to invest their money in the generation, transmission and also distribution,” said Mr Ramokgopa.
Mr Ramokgopa was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa as South Africa’s first electricity minister in March, amid growing public discontent at the government’s handling of a power crisis – which has resulted in prolonged power cuts.
South Africa’s power crisis has been blamed on poor management and corruption.
