Eskom’s debt a big headache for MPs

A PARLIAMENTARY committee has taken the lead in trying to resolve at least R25 billion of the debt owed by municipalities to power utility Eskom, after the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) yesterday agreed to take over the role of the now-defunct inter-ministerial task team.

The decision, which is similar to that which Scopa took when the Cash Paymaster Services contract was discontinued for social grant payments, takes place against the backdrop of Eskom being identified as one of the reasons behind the triggering of the country’s technical recession.

“What we want is to develop a roadmap for two options: either the debt is paid and how; or if the debt is not paid, how we are going to go about fixing that,” said Scopa chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.

“The bottom line is that we are in dire straits,” he said.

Hlengwa made the comments at a meeting that was meant to be briefed by the inter-ministerial committee on service delivery led by Deputy President David Mabuza and stakeholders on Eskom’s debt.

All the stakeholders, including Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, were in attendance, except for the inter-ministerial committee on service delivery .

The committee was informed through correspondence via Mabuza’s parliamentary counsellor, Hope Papo, that the inter-ministerial committee on service delivery had not been mandated to deal with Eskom’s debt.

Yesterday Hlengwa said it was an oversight on the part of the executive not to have a structure in place to deal with Eskom debt, given its escalating nature. He added that the current situation signalled that they would be saddled with Eskom’s debt far into the future.

But he was adamant that the debt should be paid, regardless of discussions in government circles on technical and policy-related matters. “That must be dealt with by the portfolio committee. The issue is that the debt must be paid,” Hlengwa said.

ANC MP Bheki Hadebe noted that the previous administration had established the inter-ministerial task team to deal with Eskom’s debt, which was then growing at an alarming rate.

DA MP Benedicta Maria van Minnen described the situation as untenable. “We are in a technical recession. Eskom is of critical importance.

“Oversight of Parliament is now undermined. This is the matter we have to focus on. It is as if nobody recognises there is a crisis,” she said.