It has emerged that national government departments, local municipalities and metros owe Eskom close to R115 million. Energy Minister Dipuo Peters revealed this in her response to a DA Parliamentary question.

Peters says by September this year, municipalities and metros were in arrears of more than R100-million while national departments owe more than R12 000. She says the information on how much provincial departments owe Eskom is not yet available. Peters says this is due to the Eskom billing system which is not categorised to identify provincial authorities. Peters says Eskom has a debt recovery plan for the various government departments and municipalities.

Meanwhile, Azapo says it is shocked and dismayed by the latest developments at Eskom. This follows conflicting reports that Eskom CEO Jacob Maroga has resigned. Azapo secretary-general, Strike Thokoane, says an urgent solution to the spat between Maroga and the Eskom board must be sought.

In a statement released by AZAPO, Thokoane says a company such as Eskom, which handles a budget of billions of rands and is solely responsible for electricity generation in the country, has to behave more responsibly than what is currently being witnessed by South Africans.

Thokoane says the Eskom board and its management team must stop playing what he calls dirty games, and concentrate on supplying the country with sufficient electricity.