Mabuza: Consumers also to blame for Eskom woes
Deputy President David Mabuza has told MPs that South Africans refusing to pay their utility bills is partly to blame for Eskom’s financial woes.
Mabuza believes the power utilities’ ballooning debt of more than R450-billion should not only be linked to the looting of the embattled SOE but also residents refusing to pay for services.
“Eskom is struggling not only for its own fault, we are partly to blame – some of us are not paying we are owing Eskom,” said Mabuza.
He answered questions in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Wednesday.
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Eskom is asking for more money from government after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni allocated R59 billion over the next two years.
Mabuza said the ripple effects of residents not paying their utility bills are crippling the power utility.
“Aggregate municipal consumer debts amounted to R165.5 billion. Due to escalating consumer debt many of the affected municipalities have begun struggling to meet their own payment obligations.”