City of Joburg Mayor Dada Morero has met with the Minister of Electricity, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, following the R5 billion Eskom debt and threats to the electricity supply.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
City of Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero, has moved swiftly to assure residents of a continued electricity supply.
This comes as Morero revealed that revenue collection in the metro dipped to crisis levels in the past few years. This, he stated, has resulted in the metro being unable to honour its commitment towards the R5 billion Eskom debt.
On Tuesday, Morero met with the Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, where the two parties, alongside other stakeholders such as City Power, agreed to work together to find sustainable solutions to the debt challenges facing the municipality and its residents.
Last week, the power utility gave the City of Johannesburg until July 8 to settle the outstanding debt exceeding R5 billion or face electricity interruption across the city.
Addressing members of the media gathered at the City Power headquarters in Johannesburg, Ramokgopa stated that both entities are committed to resolving the non-payment challenges with all affected municipalities, including the City of Joburg, which must not be allowed to fail in the face of challenges.
"We accept the uniqueness of the challenges. If we get Joburg right, there is no municipality that we will not be able to get right. What we have agreed on is the continued provision of electricity. We have, henceforth, agreed to work things out because Johannesburg is a big city, which cannot be allowed to fail. It is the powerhouse of South Africa's economy and the epicentre of the financial market," the minister stated.
Morero, acknowledging the mounting challenges, including both technical losses and non-technical losses of electricity, highlighted how these issues directly impact the municipality's revenue collection.
"Our city is facing challenges. We are experiencing losses of electricity, both technical and non- technical. As a result of that, it impacts our revenue. Even our collection rate has dropped. This has contributed to us not honouring our payments to Eskom," he stated.
On the continued electricity supply, the mayor indicated that, despite huge losses and challenges, residents will not be affected.
"We can assure all our customers that there will be no shut-off in Johannesburg, and this meeting has cleared that situation."