Officials from the Polokwane Municipality, led by Chief Financial Officer Hassim Essa, switched off electricity to government departments that have not paid their municipality bills.
Some of the departments that were affected are the Department of Health, Public Works, Education and Rural Development.
Municipality’s spokesperson, Thipa Selala says the departments have failed to comply with their contractual obligation.
Selala says the departments have in the past made arrangements to pay. He says the departments did not honor their commitments to pay their bills since last year in November.
“The departments combined with the government entities, they are owing the municipality around R252 million, so we have been negotiating with the departments since November last year. Some have not made any commitments, some have made commitments, but they have never come back to say now we have paid that amount, they have all defaulted,” says Selala.
Meanwhile, Limpopo provincial government spokesperson Ndavhe Ramakuela says they will continue to encourage government departments to honor their financial obligation to the municipality.
“We have an inter-governmental forum chaired by the office of the premier and in that forum, we encourage departments to ensure that their accounts are up to date.”
