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Dark days loom for Dr Beyers Naude

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Dear MyPE

Three towns in Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality are, once again, facing the threat of hours and hours of electricity supply interruptions by Eskom because the Municipality has failed to honour the last repayment plan agreed to.

Residents in Steytlerville, Jansenville and Willowmore are horrified at the prospect of 6.5 hours without electricity a day for the first week, escalating to 14 hours a day from the second week, if there is no resolution.

These power cuts will have a drastic impact on service delivery. Water to all three towns is supplied from boreholes, which rely on electrical pumps. Sewerage will also be impacted as the pumps utilised for this are also electrical.

All of this would be understandable if the residents of the affected towns were withholding their payments for electricity and failing to pay their accounts. This is not the case, however.

Residents are paying their accounts to the Municipality, but this money is not being paid to Eskom. It is being used by the municipality to settle other accounts.

For three years, the DA has been requesting that all electricity income is ring-fenced and then paid to Eskom. This would mean that the Municipality could, at the very least, service its current debt with Eskom.

Instead, the Municipality has done the exact opposite and has failed to meet even its current obligations, let alone service the historical debt.

I have written to both the Eastern Cape MEC and the Minister of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), to request their urgent intervention to prevent the interruptions scheduled for tomorrow.

I have asked that they also attempt to find a way of dealing with the historical debt that the Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality inherited at the time of the amalgamation.

In addition, the DA will be laying criminal charges against the Mayor and the Municipal Manager for their failure to pay the Eskom accounts of those residents who have paid for the service, and in so doing, subjected them to the threats of rolling blackouts.

This is the third time that the residents are facing this, and the fear and uncertainty is taking its toll.

Our residents should not be used as pawns in the ongoing financial woes of this Municipality by an ANC government that is completely incapable of managing its resources. Our people deserve better.

Our residents deserve a DA government that is efficient, caring and capable of managing its finances properly. 2021 cannot come fast enough for Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality.

Regards

Samantha Graham-Maré, MP
Dr Beyers Naude Constituency Leader

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