Seven businesses in Klerksdorp, North West were shut down during operation Okae Molao on Thursday because they owe the Matlosana Local Municipality money, while others were closed for stealing electricity.
The Matslosan Municipality is under pressure after Eskom obtained a court order that allows it to attach assets to recoup the R1.5 billion it is owed by the municipality.
Eskom says the total debt owed by municipalities in the North West is R5.3 billion.
Operation Okae Molao is a joint effort by law enforcement and the municipal authorities and Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for electricity, Fikile Mahlope said the municipality was dealing with implementing its revenue strategy and local businesses must pay their municipal debts.
“We are having a debt with Eskom, now what we are doing as part of our revenue strategy is to check on both technical and non-technical losses. So we have closed several shops as a result..
“We have realised a lot of people have not been paying particularly big businesses because we have always thought the people who are actually ‘bridging’ are households, only to find that many businesses were actually stealing electricity.”
Mahlope said for the past three months the rate of revenue collection has gone up because of the operation. “When we started this project there was a day that we managed to collect at least R70 000 in a space of three hours, it has never happened before, “ he said.
Eskom’s Provincial Customer Relations Manager, Ezekiel Baruti, said many municipalities in the province are not complying and may have their bank accounts attached.
“Eskom is currently engaging with all the municipalities. Eskom is implementing an intergovernmental relations framework with some municipalities and should it fail, Eskom will then go to court and Implement a similar process as we did in Matlosana,” he warned.
Baruti said municipalities must not believe that by making monthly payments they will be able to avoid court action.
“As long as their payments are not covering their monthly debt or the historical debt, Eskom reserves the right to take action,” he said.
