Home

Municipalities’ rising debt to Eskom poses serious threat to its liquidity: Mabuza

David Mabuza
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Deputy President David Mabuza says the rising debt owed to Eskom by municipalities continues to pose a serious risk to the power utility’s liquidity.

Mabuza said this when he was answering virtual Parliamentary questions on a plethora of challenges facing the power utility.

In this video below, Deputy President David Mabuza answers questions in Parliament:


The debt owed by municipalities has risen to a whopping R28 billion.

The bulk of this amount is monies owed by the national and provincial governments to various municipalities.

But Mabuza also indicated that the debt owed by these spheres of government, pales in comparison to the amount owed by communities.

“The difficulties we are experiencing now is the non-payment by our people, we must insist that people must pay for the services they receive.”

According to some lawmakers, in some parts of the country, the situation has become so dire to an extent that municipalities are switching off electricity to clinics and hospitals.

In this video below, former President Kgalema Motlanthe says Eskom is the biggest crisis facing South Africa:

“In a situation like this I don’t expect municipalities to switch off electricity from hospitals.”

Mabuza gave an undertaking that by the time he returned to Parliament to answer further questions, Eskom’s debt will have been paid.

He also reassured lawmakers that the situation at Eskom is gradually stabilising.

Author

MOST READ