Eskom wants the beleaguered Emfuleni municipality to pay back the money.
- Emfuleni Municipality managed to make last-minute salary payments to employees on Friday.
- Payments were delayed after Eskom seized municipal accounts for non-payment of debt.
- EmfulenisSpokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni told News24 there was a pending debt payment proposal from Eskom that still needs to be considered by the city council.
Emfuleni municipal employees are breathing a sigh of relief after receiving last-minute salary payments in December after Eskom’s seizure of municipal assets.
The power utility obtained an injunction from the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last month, allowing it to seize R1.3 billion worth of municipality assets.
He said the municipality owed him 5.3 billion rand, which he was unable to settle despite litigation dating back to 2018.
Earlier this month, Eskom seized his account and personal property, including vehicles. The seizure of the municipality’s account threatened the employees with non-payment of their December wages.
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The president of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), Mpho Tladinyane, told News24 that there was a three-day delay in wage payments.
It said the initial payment date was December 20, but Eskom demanded a payment of R386 million before releasing the account. The municipality was unable to make this payment, he said.
Tladinyane said the matter was resolved after intervention by various government stakeholders, including Gauteng Prime Minister Panyaza Lesufi’s office.
“There have been several meetings between Eskom, the municipality, the Department of Public Enterprises and the prime minister’s office to try to resolve the matter because at the center of it all was that Eskom seized the municipality’s bank accounts. Eskom lifted its embargo on the municipality account this morning, and salaries are being paid,” he said.
Earlier this week, the union expressed concern about the potential impact of non-payment.
He said:
In addition to subjecting workers to a black Christmas, the non-payment of wages will have a dire consequence for workers, since medical aid, retirement funds and insurance will not be paid. Workers will also not be in a position to buy textbooks for their children.
Emfuleni Municipality spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni confirmed the delay in salary payments to News24. Asked how the municipality planned to pay off the debt, he said Eskom had drafted an “unreasonable” proposal that the council still needed to deliberate on.
“They want to take over the electricity supply, which means they want residents to pay for electricity directly to them. This is unreasonable because it would leave us with no money. That’s selfish. I don’t think there is any municipality that should agree “. to that one.”
Sangweni said several factors caused Eskom’s debt default.
“We all know there is unemployment and people don’t pay for electricity. We also know there are illegal connections in South Africa. Eskom knows our problems. Eskom is becoming the enemy of the people,” he said.
