Urge residents to pay for electricity and cut off non-payers, McKenzie tells politicians

Outgoing Central Karoo mayor and Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie says fixing Eskom's woes starts with residents paying for electricity.

The power utility implemented stage 6 load-shedding from 4pm on Wednesday to 5am on Thursday, saying various stages will be implemented thereafter.

The ailing power utility said breakdowns were at 18,972MW of generating capacity, while 3,222MW are out of service for planned maintenance.

“Fixing Eskom starts with us paying for electricity as residents. Politicians should encourage payment and cut when people don’t pay. A total [of] R42m was paid the year before my arrival and R76m has been paid during my year in Beaufort West alone. We can’t always be popular as leaders,” he said.

“It is grossly unfair when pensioners use [their] only money to pay for electricity, but people at squatter camps don’t pay. Cut all electricity to all squatter camps or make them pay. Fair is fair. Let’s fix the country.”

Calls are mounting for residents, including those in Soweto, to pay for electricity.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said residents of the township must pay for services they use.

“The user-pay principle does need to be observed by all of us, largely because the state carries a big burden. When you look at the social support of our budget, it’s way over 50%.”

He said he understood the hardships people, not only of Soweto, were going through.

“The prices of nearly everything have gone up and we also need to understand Eskom’s position. Eskom is under a huge burden of debt, so when one looks at these considerations one needs to have a balanced conclusion,” he said.

However, earlier this year Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said the R5bn owed by Soweto residents to Eskom should be written off, but he urged those who could afford to pay for services to do so.

“Until we remove the debt of electricity in Soweto, we are not going to resolve the problem of electricity in Soweto. But we can't just remove the debt. We must agree on a process and it's very simple: protect those who are unemployed and the elderly who can't pay, but ensure those running businesses in our township pay.

“[You] can’t hide behind the poor when you are employed or you run businesses in our township and that's the process we must undertake, without fear or favour,” said Lesufi.