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Joburg mayor Dada Morero has made a desperate plea to electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa to save the city from being plunged into darkness due rising Eskom debt.
Morero is set to meet Kgosientsho Ramokgopa before the end of the month to come up with a plan to meet Eskom’s July 8 deadline to settle the R5.2bn debt, failing which the utility will switch off the city’s bulk electricity supply.
Morero’s meeting with Ramokgopa will be the second sit-down with a cabinet minister over Joburg’s financial management problems. Two weeks ago he met finance minister Enoch Godongwana to resolve the city’s controversial plan to pay R10bn in wage increases to workers.
Should the blackout warning come into effect, large parts of the city supplied by Eskom will be disconnected, leading to dire economic consequences for a city that is an economic hub of the country.
Speaking to Sowetan on Tuesday, Ramokgopa said he was not aware that the city had defaulted on the court-sanctioned agreement reached in 2025.
“It is regrettable that we have reached a state where Eskom had to threaten this kind of action to what is the epicentre of South Africa’s financial basket and the economy,” Ramokgopa said.
Eskom has previously threatened to pull the plug on Joburg over unpaid debt.
Ramokgopa said Morero reached out to him to discuss the matter, and that he would be meeting with him when he returns from a state visit to Botswana.
“The important thing is that obligations and agreement mean something. Once you have concluded an agreement, it is important that we keep to the terms of the agreement, otherwise, diligent ratepayers are likely to be casualties and that is something that we do not want, and also ... it would dampen investor confidence.
“We will work together through the system of intergovernmental relations and at the same time working with the city to ensure that they recover from an exceptional difficult financial situation.”
He also said switching off Johannesburg would be devastating, but Eskom’s interests have to be protected.
“R5bn is a lot of money by any account, once we reach an agreement we have to stick to provisions of that agreement,” stressed Ramokgopa.
He also cited a letter Godongwana wrote to the city, saying Joburg was too big to fail.
“Think of the number of households, the consumers and the number ofindustries and also the financial heartbeat of the country. We didn’t have to get here because we have had an agreement,” the minister said.
The city also has a separate R4m debt to Eskom for electrifying street lights and as result, the power utility has already cut off more than 50 streetlights in parts of the city.
These streetlights include those at the corner of William Nicol and Rose Road, as well as Maggie Baloyi Street in Ivory Park and parts of the M1 highway. This will also affect traffic lights.
In the letter to the city dated May 15, the power utility said it will allow affected residents to make a representation or submission on why the bulk electricity supply must not be disconnected.
During an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Tuesday, Morero said the bulk purchases have been quite heavy on the city.
“That is as a result of the tariff structure of Eskom ... as you know we are also entering the winter month and they have a complete different tariff structure, and the city has also passed the tariff to its customers ... we have been trying to balance payment of our bulk purchases,” said Morero.
He said the city would renegotiate because it would be impossible to pay R5,2bn at once.
“It is not possible, so we will be engaging with Eskom, but the winter tariffs are also quite high and heavy for the city.”
Sowetan
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