Lights to stay on for now

ESKOM has suspended the electricity cuts to Kai Garib Local Municipality after a payment agreement was entered into, while the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) will provide financial assistance to ailing municipalities in the Northern Cape.

With an outstanding debt of R124 million, Eskom had announced last week that it would be instituting extended bulk electricity cuts to Kai Garib.

Eskom spokesperson Stefanie Janse van Rensburg said yesterday that the municipality had been advised of the intention to cut the power in January.

“Eskom is pleased to announce that the municipality has made a suitable payment proposal that has been accepted by Eskom. The contemplated bulk interruption of supply to Kai Garib on February 15 (tomorrow) has therefore been suspended.

“Should the municipality not honour its payment agreement, Eskom may disconnect within 48 hours of default.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Cogta, Des van Rooyen, will implement recovery plans at 60 dysfunctional municipalities across the country, including the Northern Cape, through an intervention “Back to Basics” programme.

He said that national Treasury had conducted financial analysis and was developing recovery plans at the affected municipalities.

Van Rooyen stated that preliminary findings pointed to issues of governance and leadership that needed to be addressed.

He added that many of these municipalities relied on grant funding from the national fiscus, where they were adopting unfunded budgets.

The minister said that many of these municipalities were too dependent on the grant funding for their survival.

Van Rooyen also indicated that more problems were created by amalgamating impoverished municipalities.