Strapped Makana faces being left in dark

MAKANA Municipality has about two weeks to come up with R51-million to pay Eskom or face a complete blackout in the region.

The cash-strapped municipality has been warned to pay the money in full by the end of the month or electricity will be cut in Grahamstown and surrounding areas.

Last month, the municipality paid Eskom R7.4-million and it is now working on a proposal to convince the power utility to accept payment in monthly instalments.

Mayor Nomhle Gaga said the municipality did not have money to pay Eskom this month.

Officials were working around the clock trying to find some money in the municipality’s budget to be able to make a payment before the deadline.

Besides the money owed to Eskom, the municipality owes R55-million to contractors for services rendered.

Acting municipal manager Mandisi Planga said a payment plan was being prepared to submit to Eskom.

“We had an agreement but we are reviewing it because last month we paid R7.4-million instead of the R12-million we owed. So we fell short.

“Eskom made it clear in their letter that if we don’t pay the R51-million we will be cut off. We hope we will reach an agreement before that.”

Planga said the proposed payment plan needed the council’s approval before it was sent to Eskom.

He said requests to the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as the Sarah Baartman District Municipality had gone unanswered.

Sarah Baartman mayor Khunjuzwa Kekana said she had not yet received any request from Makana.

Cooperative Governance provincial spokesman Mamnkeli Ngam did not respond to queries sent to him.

Meanwhile, Gaga said the town lost millions of rands to residents tampering with their electricity meters.

“They must pay or we will switch them off. We hope that money will assist us in paying off our debts.”

The council took a decision to sell some of its land and properties in the hopes of getting some money into its coffers.

The financially strung municipality also struggles with its huge fuel bill which stood at R300 000 for October only. It jumped from R182 000 in September.

But Planga said the R300 000 figure was less than other months when the fuel bill had reached R600 000.

“We suspect there is abuse and that our officials are stealing fuel. We are going to investigate this,” Planga said.