Eskom says the bank accounts of the Free State Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality will remain frozen, pending the outcome of a court case.
This subsequently means workers of the municipality may not get paid their salaries.
Eskom’s action is over the refusal of the municipality to pay the debt it owes the power utility.
The municipality has instead taken Eskom to court, requesting that it release the money that was attached back in July.
The money was meant to pay salaries and to meet other running costs, as seen in the statement below:
Eskom agrees to partially release frozen funds to assist Maluti-a-Phofung with running costs pic.twitter.com/kFB19h1OBt
— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) July 25, 2020
Eskom Spokesperson Sinkonathi Mantshantsha says the municipality has yet to repay the billions of rands still owed.
He says no agreement has been reached on a repayment plan.
“The council has asked for another advance of R15-million to pay salaries of its staff and other financial obligations. The bank account remains frozen until the matter has been resolved in court. But by mutual agreement, if they want funds, they must ask Eskom. Eskom must then remove the objection of the hold. There was a balance of R220-million and they asked for R90-million which they said were to pay salaries and other obligations. Eskom did allow this to happen in July. Now they have come back for more. Since then they have not paid back a cent, neither have they agreed to a repayment plan,” says Mantshantsha.
