The Democratic Alliance said “it is simply unacceptable that residents are being punished because of poor municipal planning” in Nama-Khoi.
The DA’s Northern Cape provincial leader‚ Andrew Louw‚ said his party “is extremely worried about the devastating power cuts planned for Nama-Khoi‚ as announced by Eskom”.
“The current electricity crisis in Nama-Khoi‚ as in the rest of the country‚ is caused by financial mismanagement and poor leadership‚” Louw said.
Eskom said on April 10 that it would cut bulk electricity supply to 20 municipalities which owe the cash-strapped utility R3.68 billion rand in unpaid power bills.
“Non-payment for electricity undermines Eskom’s statutory obligation to generate and supply electricity to municipalities nationally on a financially sustainable basis‚” the Eskom’s acting chief executive‚ Zethembe Khoza‚ said in a statement.
Nama-Khoi‚ like the other 19 municipalities‚ faces weekday outages from 6am to 10am‚ and from 5pm to 9pm; and weekend cuts from 7am to 10am‚ and 5pm to 10pm.
“No resident should be forced to sit in the dark because the municipality doesn’t pay its bills‚” Louw said.
“These brutal power cuts will take effect right in the heart of winter. We are concerned that residents will be left without electricity at the peak times for preparing meals‚ bathing and spending time with the family.”
Louw said the DA believed it would be preferable to implement interventions in terms of section 154(1) of the Constitution – which allows for national government and provincial governments to “support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities” – rather than to punish residents who are not at fault.
“We believe that all revenue raised by municipalities through the resale of electricity must be ring-fenced for the payments of money owed to Eskom. The surplus should be used for the upgrading and maintenance of electricity infrastructure‚” Louw said.
‘Residents in the dark because municipalities don’t pay bills’
The Democratic Alliance said “it is simply unacceptable that residents are being punished because of poor municipal planning” in Nama-Khoi.
The DA’s Northern Cape provincial leader‚ Andrew Louw‚ said his party “is extremely worried about the devastating power cuts planned for Nama-Khoi‚ as announced by Eskom”.
“The current electricity crisis in Nama-Khoi‚ as in the rest of the country‚ is caused by financial mismanagement and poor leadership‚” Louw said.
Eskom said on April 10 that it would cut bulk electricity supply to 20 municipalities which owe the cash-strapped utility R3.68 billion rand in unpaid power bills.
“Non-payment for electricity undermines Eskom’s statutory obligation to generate and supply electricity to municipalities nationally on a financially sustainable basis‚” the Eskom’s acting chief executive‚ Zethembe Khoza‚ said in a statement.
Nama-Khoi‚ like the other 19 municipalities‚ faces weekday outages from 6am to 10am‚ and from 5pm to 9pm; and weekend cuts from 7am to 10am‚ and 5pm to 10pm.
“No resident should be forced to sit in the dark because the municipality doesn’t pay its bills‚” Louw said.
“These brutal power cuts will take effect right in the heart of winter. We are concerned that residents will be left without electricity at the peak times for preparing meals‚ bathing and spending time with the family.”
Louw said the DA believed it would be preferable to implement interventions in terms of section 154(1) of the Constitution – which allows for national government and provincial governments to “support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities” – rather than to punish residents who are not at fault.
“We believe that all revenue raised by municipalities through the resale of electricity must be ring-fenced for the payments of money owed to Eskom. The surplus should be used for the upgrading and maintenance of electricity infrastructure‚” Louw said.
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