Makana DA in fight to prevent power cuts
THE Democratic Alliance in Makana local municipality has lambasted the ANC-led municipality for failing to service its R52.4million Eskom debt, leading the power utility threatening power cuts to the Grahamstown-based municipality.
DA caucus leader Mlindi Nhanha said service delivery had ground to a halt in Makana with the ANC in government.
“The equitable share grant is used to pay an exorbitant overdue Eskom debt.
“Makana municipality has failed to discharge most, if not all, of its constitutional obligations including its debts,” he said.
The municipality, Nhanha said, has “continuously failed to hold its end of the deal on an agreed-upon payment plan between Eskom and our council”.
Makana spokeswoman Yoliswa Ramoloko failed to respond to questions e-mailed last week.
Nhanha said: “An overwhelming majority of Grahamstown residents pay for their electricity consumption, but revenue generated from electricity sales is redirected to paying R13-million monthly salaries of a bloated and inefficient workforce.”
A motion had been submitted for discussion in the next council meeting for the municipality to ring-fence money generated from electricity sales to pay the debt.
Nhanha said the DA caucus would continue making representations to the provincial and national departments of cooperative governance and traditional affairs “to play a greater role in resolving the crisis in Makana”.
He said the financial crisis had reached its worst levels ever. The DA would do all in its power to ensure residents were not adversely affected by power cuts planned for December 8.
The Daily Dispatch reported recently on how Eskom planned to start power cuts in the Makana municipal area over the local authority’s failure to service its R52.4-million debt from December 8 if no payment arrangement was made.
The interruptions would be between 6am8am and 5pm-7.30pm on weekdays, and 8.30am-11am and 3pm-5.30pm on weekends.
Last month, the Dispatch reported how a last-minute meeting saved Inxuba Yethemba (Cradock and Middelburg), Raymond Mhlaba (Alice, Adelaide and Fort Beaufort) and Walter Sisulu (Jamestown and Burgerdorp) municipalities from power cuts.