Eskom’s application for a 43.5% price increase for municipalities will not only make electricity unaffordable for many South Africans but will destroy these entities' ability to provide basic services.
This stark warning comes from the Western Cape MEC for Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell.
The MEC said that Eskom needs to focus on improving its operational capacity, and it should not be allowed to make the public pay for its inefficiencies and corruption.
“Eskom’s mismanagement has directly led to the skyrocketing electricity prices in South Africa in recent years,” he added.
“Examples of wasteful and reckless spending, such as paying R238,000 for a mop, or R26 for a roll of single-ply toilet paper were uncovered in recent years,” Bredell said.
“Eskom at one stage paid R51 for a single black refuse bag that costs R2.99 at retail stores. Protective knee pads were inflated from R4,025 to a staggering R934,950 by a previous supplier.”
Bredell said that these examples are mere indicators of huge operational inefficiencies that have been the norm at Eskom for many years.
He said that currently, the utility is functioning “by the grace of the Eskom Debt Relief Act of 2023, which aims to provide R254 billion in debt relief over a number of years”.
Eskom received R21.9 billion in support from the government in 2023, which allowed it to improve its maintenance efforts.
“We do not know if it is still overspending on items such as toilet paper and mops. Now Eskom wants overstretched South Africans to pay for its own inefficiencies,” he emphasised.
“Municipalities in South Africa are struggling, and this is well documented through reports such as from the Auditor-General, which found that more than 25% of municipalities in the country are dysfunctional.”
He noted that only 11.67% of South Africa’s municipalities are considered stable and out of 257 municipalities, only 34 received clean audits.
A death blow
Bredell said that the proposed 43.5% increase in electricity prices by Eskom would be “a death blow” for many municipalities in terms of basic municipal services, especially to indigent residents.
“Currently, indigent households are entitled to 50kWh of electricity per month, 6 kilolitres of water per month and free weekly waste removal.”
“Research commissioned by the Western Cape Department of Local Government and conducted by the University of Stellenbosch in 2023 found that the current 50kWh of free electricity is not enough to secure a dignified existence, and it should be 150kWh per month,” he said.
Bredell said that Eskom and government should be seeking solutions to provide adequate free electricity and basic services to our most vulnerable residents.
“A starting point could be to ask whether indigent households should pay VAT on electricity,” he explained.
“If we do not readjust our focus towards the dire needs of our poor and vulnerable communities, we are risking the very essence of our democracy and social stability,” he concluded.
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