Municipal debt remains stubborn challenge, says Ramokgopa
Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says the increased municipal debt will continue to be a burden on Eskom's finances.
Ramokgopa says municipal debt currently stands at more than R63 billion, with the top 20 municipalities accounting for 77% of that amount.
Ramokgopa briefed the media on Sunday on the progress made in the battle against load shedding.
He said municipalities' inability to invest in electricity infrastructure leads to issues such as load reduction.
"These communities are subjected to a number of challenges. They are subjected to load reduction. Communities in other parts of the country are going for longer periods of time without electricity, not because of loadshedding but because of these challenges.
"There are a number of municipalities that have entered into some agreements. They fail to live up to those agreements, because essentially their revenue base has been eroded. They are unable to sustain those agreements," said Ramokgopa.
Ramokgopa said once the issue of load shedding is resolved, some communities will continue to suffer power outages due to the failing infrastructure.
"The comfort we want to give to communities is that we are attending to all of these problems. We are not waiting to resolve loadshedding and much later we go and address the distribution side. We are addressing the entire ecosystem so that we can have full proof comprehensive solution on the resolution of the electricity problem in the country."
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