Court says Eskom can cut power to recover debt
The urgent application by AfriForum and AfriBusiness to prevent Eskom from cutting to power to municipalities in debt, has been dismissed in the North Gauteng High Court.
The bulk power cut to defaulting municipalities was scheduled for today, but the power utility postponed the interruption until mid-January to give stakeholders time to prepare or settle their accounts.
Eskom lists the seven affected municipalities in the Free State as; Tokologo, Nketoana, Nala, Mantsopa, Masilonyana, Dihlabeng, and Moqhaka.
The three municipalities in the North West are Naledi, Mamusa, and Ventersdorp.
AfriForum argued that Eskom could not punish innocent rate payers for the wrongs of the municipalities.
The civil-rights organisation's Willie Spies says it is a pity, but they accept the court's ruling.
"We sit with a systemic problem of malfunctioning municipalities and unfortunately it is not possible to fix each and every mistake in court," says Spies.
Spies says people now know why their power will be cut.
"The power of the municipalities will be cut as a result of mismanagement within those municipalities and we tried to stop it," says Spies.