Eskom has threatened to drag the DA-led City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality to court if it fails to service its almost R2 billion debt.
The power utility said the metro has been struggling to pay invoices in full and its debt has now skyrocketed to a whopping R1,9 billion.
“The debt has now escalated to just under R1,9 billion as of 9 June 2023. The March 2023 invoice, which was payable on 19 April 2023, was short paid by R179 million, while the April 2023 invoice of R776 million, payable on 18 May 2023, remains unpaid. Eskom has issued the May 2023 invoice of R904 million payable on 17 June 2023 to the City,” said Eskom Senior Manager Customer Services Gauteng, Mpumelelo Mnyani
“Eskom has engaged with the City on numerous occasions regarding its failure to settle the debt it owes Eskom. The power utility has appealed to the City to immediately settle the March and April 2023 invoices and to pay its monthly accounts on the due date.
“Eskom does not have the financial capacity to continue supplying bulk electricity to the City without the necessary payments. Eskom has in the past escalated this matter to National Treasury and CoGTA, however, regardless of all these efforts, the situation is worsening.
“As Eskom’s cash flow challenges and the provisions of PFMA dictate, Eskom is accordingly exploring all avenues available to it to recover this debt including, but not limited to, approaching the courts for relief,” he added.
The City of Tshwane has also confirmed that it has not been servicing its Eskom debt citing financial woes.
“The City of Tshwane notes the statement issued by Eskom pointing to the city’s arrear debt. It is no secret that Tshwane has financial and cash flow difficulties, including long-standing issues with debt collection and credit control,” said Tshwane Mayoral spokesperson, Sipho Stuurman.
Stuurman said the metro is working around the clock to improve it finances and it “looks forward to engaging with Eskom about these attempts, as the city manager Johann Mettler has been doing in the past few months.”
