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The Democratic Alliance (DA) has asked the Minister of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, to intervene in the electricity crisis in Bethal, Mpumalanga.

The town falls under the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality, which owes Eskom R1.9 billion and is in breach of its repayment arrangement with the power utility.

But the effects of the municipality’s delinquency has fallen disproportionality on residents of Bethal, including the township of Emzinoni.

According to Eskom, which has a direct supply line to Bethal, the town is exceeding its maximum demand limit for electricity.

In times of peak demand this limit would ordinarily be lifted, but now Eskom refuses to do so in light of the delinquency of the Govan Mbeki municipality.

Credit action has coincided with the beginning of the lockdown, which has meant that households in Bethal have had to ensure daily power cuts of up to 12 hours a day - 6 hours in the morning, and another 6 hours at night.

Due to the damage wrought on the electricity network by the stops and starts of load-shedding, power outages have not been limited to official schedules.

Under the strain of the load shedding process transformers blow, feeder cables burn, and ring feeds break, and so power outages become longer and more frequent.

In April the DA raised the Bethal power crisis with Mpumalanga’s Provincial Government, but the situation has only become worse.

In these circumstances the DA believes that s 139(7) compels the national government to step into the shoes of the province, or at least to put some steel in its spine.

Issued by DA