By Thys Khiba – The Emfuleni Local Municipality MMC for Finance and Revenue, Hassan Mako has confirmed that the municipality appealed the ruling by the North Gauteng High Court on the Eskom’s plans to attach municipal assets.
“It is our view that we are currently at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) with Eskom on this matter. We believe Eskom has jumped the gun by going to court without following the IGR process as facilitated by the provincial government,” said municipal spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni.
This comes after the power utility Eskom announced that the High Court granted an order allowing it to attach R1.3 billion of the municipality’s assets for its “continued failure” to settle its accounts and arrears with Eskom.
On Monday, Eskom said the municipality owes R5.3 billion despite several litigations brought since 2018 to get the municipality to service its debt.
The power utility announced that it had started taking steps to recover some of the money from the Vaal municipality, these includes attaching bank accounts and moveable assets.
“Despite the municipality’s healthy revenue collection rate of about 90% from its customers, the local government still failed to pay a portion of its overdue account.”
The municipality has strongly condemned actions by Eskom and accused the power utility of taking the fight to the media.
“We strongly condemn these actions by the power utility and further advice our sister counterparts in the power utility to desist from this.”
The municipality has informed their residents that the municipal’s bank account is currently operational. The appeal is expected to be heard by the SCA on 11 October 2023.
“It is our view that the court of 11 October 2023 will bring a constitutional finality on the electricity debt owed by all Municipalities in the country.”
The municipality told media that they are paying Eskom based on affordability on a monthly basis. Amongst other things, the municipality owes Rand Water, pay salaries and other service providers.
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