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The DA is concerned that the failure to pay an outstanding debt of R49 million to Eskom could result in termination of the power supply to Ventersdorp and four neighbouring areas. As such, we will write to minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan to ask for the amount owed to Eskom to be paid from the equitable share.

The Ventersdorp local municipality is expected to pay R49 478 502.26 to avoid power being suspended in Ventersdorp, Tshing township and three villages, Boikhutsong, Boikhutso and Appeldraai. The Acting Municipal Manager Isaac Moruti admitted this crisis stemmed from an accumulated debt going back to 2012.

Even more alarming is that he admitted the collection rate in council is very low and due to underspending, additional funding from government is held back. The council furthermore failed to honour their payback agreement with Eskom.

Tlokwe has a 91% service payment record and does not owe Eskom any money.

This again emphasizes why the DA strongly resists the merger between Tlokwe and Ventersdorp.

The Tlokwe community cannot be held responsible for bailing out a town that is down on its knees due to consistent mismanagement and poor revenue collection facilities. 

Due to a strong DA opposition in the Tlokwe council, we can reflect a positive bank balance and keep the current governing party accountable.

This however is not the case in Ventersdorp where cadre deployments by the ANC lead to this town being put under administration.

However Tlokwe cannot afford to tap into their investments in order to help another municipality on its feet. For the first time in 35 years, Tlokwe had to use money from investments in order to finance their cash flow.

Tlokwe will have furthermore have to use at least 23% of their investments to pay Ventersdorp’s Eskom account.

Plans by the Ventersdorp Municipality to start disconnecting services now and to rush to install prepaid electricity meters, is too little too late.

It is also clear that by defaulting on an arrangement that the administrator cannot manage the finances of Ventersdorp and action is needed to save the town- those residents that are paying monthly cannot be held accountable for poor governance on the side of the ANC.

Issued by Eskom