Electricity in Thabazimbi…

Dear concerned citizens, 

By this time we are sure you have heard and read about Eskom’s imposed bulk electricity interruptions in Thabazimbi, starting from 21 September 2017. This is a cause for great concern for the Democratic Alliance (DA) because not only will the outages affect essential services but the community at large will suffer. We have to inform our supporters that we and our partners in the unity government have tried our utmost best to avert the crisis. 

Unfortunately the proposals we have made and suggestions we tried, fell on deaf ears. Despite the municipality’s best efforts – we are being crippled by historical debt and the high interest rate levied on this debt. 

In August 2016 the majority voters of Thabazimbi rejected the ANC and the unity government was formed. At that stage the debt owed to Eskom amounted to over R 170 million. The municipality was still under section 139 administration as per the constitution and the unity government struggled to get this functional in the departments in the administration to operate. 

Over the course of the following months, we succeeded in moving to the less drastic form of administration in terms of section 154 of the constitution and removed managers that were deliberately bringing the municipality to a standstill. 

We realised that between August 2016 and November 2016, the administration made no payments to Eskom and we immediately started engaging Eskom on the matter. By that time the total amount of debt had reached close to R200 million. Since December 2016 the municipality has paid over R 38 million to Eskom, which is twice the monthly usage. 

Unfortunately the interest levied by Eskom ranges R2.1 million and R3.3million a month, and despite our best efforts to resource the money, we could not make enough of a difference in the debt owed to Eskom. 

Even at this hour we are still engaging with various stakeholders in order to assist us in this crisis. If we do not manage to obtain the R37.8 million to pay to Eskom immediately, the electricity supply will be interrupted as follows from Thursday, 21 September 2017: 

Mondays – Fridays: 06h00 – 08h00 and 17h00 – 19h30
Saturdays – Sundays: 08h30 – 11h00 and 15h00 – 17h30 

The following parts will be affected: Thabazimbi Town, Thabazimbi Industrial Area, Ipelegeng, Regorogile Ex 5 and 6 (Rooiberg is not mentions in the official notice from Eskom).
 
Fortunately, the acting municipal manger has informed us that the main pump station supply in water to Thabazimbi and Regorogile, as well as the sewer plant in Thabazimbi, will not be affected by the power interruptions, because those specific Eskom accounts are paid and isolated from the main account. 

We need to assure the public that we are constantly engaged to find a solution for this enormous challenge. Even during this uneasy period we are not ignoring payments for other essential services and municipal departments can still function to serve the community. 

Finally, the special investigative unit is still investigating the actions of the previous administration and we hope that those who caused the financial mismanagement will be prosecuted in due time. 

Yours in good governance, 
Dr LH Joubert CaucusLeader,DA Thabazimbi  
Democratic Alliance press release, 20 September 2017