Joburg mayor: Eskom, Treasury must resolve Soweto's electricity crisis

Phalatse made the plea on Tuesday, shortly after receiving a memorandum from protesting Soweto residents.

Soweto residents marched to Phalatse's office to demand an end to power cuts in the area. 

“There’s a lot of historical issues," Phalatse said. 

"First and foremost one is the mountain of debt because from what I can hear from residents, they are willing to pay for services, but they don’t have the means to pay for the debt. Now you know that the city has a debt rehabilitation program. However, that doesn’t apply to Eskom debt. 

ALSO READ: ‘A technician for every community’ – Soweto residents take grievances to Joburg mayor

“It only applies to city-related debt.  I do think that Eskom and National Treasury need to think of a plan because they don’t have the money to pay for the historical debt but are willing to pay going forward. Perhaps that is a conversation that needs to be had." 

Scores of Soweto residents took to the streets demanding that electricity for all households in the township should be restored. 

Among their other demands are that each and every community in Soweto should have its own technician allocated to deal with power outages. 

They want all of this to be up and running within the next two months.