Dundee, KwaZulu-Natal, due to outstanding debt owed to Eskom, will see additional power cuts until nearly R24 million is paid to the State Owned Enterprise.
“Endumeni Municipality is one of the 45 Municipalities in the country that have been placed on load reduction due to their account in arrears or defaulting on their payment arrangements,” said the Municipality.
However, despite this, the Endumeni (Dundee) Municipality claimed that Eskom had not informed the municipality prior to the implementation of load reduction.
“Endumeni Council, therefore, resolved to look into the legal recourse against Eskom for not consulting the municipality before reducing bulk supply, thus infringing on the rights of the residents of Endumeni as set out in the Bill of Rights,” stated the office of the Acting Municipal Manager.
Furthermore, the municipal entity said, “Endumeni Local Municipality will not lift its foot off the pedal until debtors and clients “stealing” electricity start paying for the services, “said the Municipal Speaker Cllr Andile Nsibande.
As a result, on 28 December 2022, Cllr Nsibande, joined by various councillors and municipal officials began disconnecting electricity to businesses whose municipal accounts were in arrears.
“We have started taking control of the situation by cutting power off to non-paying businesses in the industrial area and the CBD and we will move on to government departments as well residential areas. We are all affected by electricity theft and therefore we will leave no stone unturned.” stated Cllr Nsibande.
The municipality needs to pay R23,7 million before Eskom can reduce hours on load reduction.
According to the Endumeni Municipality, the bilateral negotiation will continue with Eskom in pursuit to enter into a new payment arrangement to settle the outstanding amounts.
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