Note to Editors: Please find the attached soundbite in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Erna Rossouw
On Monday, residents of Hartbeespoort were left without electricity after the Tshwane Metro cut-off the electricity supply to the area due to non-payment by Madibeng Local Municipality, which defaulted on its payment agreement on a R77 million debt owed to the metro. Madibeng owes Eskom, Tshwane and Rand Water a staggering combined amount of R485 million.
This disconnection comes after some residents in Melodie spent the weekend without electricity after a thunderstorm damaged the electricity infrastructure in the area.
Instead of fixing the damage, the municipality’s electricians embarked on a strike action due to non-payment of their overtime. DA Councillors applied pressure on the Administrator, Advocate Monnapula Motlogelwa and the Acting Municipal Manager (MM), Neo Maape, to intervene and electricity was restored to the area on Sunday afternoon.
Even though Madibeng Local Municipality has been placed under administration, financial mismanagement continues as can be seen by the default on its debt to Tshwane.
Following the electricity supply disconnections, Madibeng Local Municipality paid R15,5 million to Tshwane and we were informed that negotiations will continue yesterday to make further arrangements on the debt agreement.
If these electricity disconnections continue it will hurt the local economy of Hartbeespoort as businesses will not be able to function properly. As a result, residents and business owners will incur financial losses and the tourism attraction of Hartbeespoort Dam will decrease.
Hartbeespoort brings in a large portion of Madibeng’s income, should these electricity disconnections continue and cause further disruption to the local economy it will have a negative impact on the municipality’s ability to render services.
The escalation of debt and failure to honour payment agreements is part of ANC corruption and mismanagement led by Mayor Jostina Mothibe and her Mayoral committee who for years failed to properly manage the municipality’s affairs. The DA will put pressure on the Speaker to table a DA motion of no confidence against the Mayor at the next Council meeting.
The DA will continue in its oversight role and work closely with the Administrator to ensure that Madibeng honours its payment agreement so that electricity supply is not cut-off.