ELM seeks best Eskom payment deal for business and residents
ELM is prioritising the needs of business and residents for a sustainable Eskom payment deal on its R2,3billion debt – and is also factoring in the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on municipal, business and community capacity to pay. So says ELM’s new Municipal Manager Lucky Leseane against a background of intensifying political consultation and negotiations following the lapsing of the April 14 Eskom deadline to broker a deal.
Organised business has now also urged Eskom to adopt an economically and socially-responsible and sustainable approach to Vaal business and residents in its debt recovery process with ELM.
“We need a sustainable and affordable Eskom deal that is in the interests of Emfuleni residents and business community but is lasting in light of the necessary but devastating impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on the regional economy and municipal revenue streams,”said Leseane.
Leseane said he had asked Eskom to extend the deal deadline to Friday next week. Eskom said earlier it had submitted two competing payment options to the Gauteng Provincial Government for resolution after talks apparently deadlocked.
Consultations and talks with official stakeholders were expected at the Gauteng Province war-room in Ormonde, Johannesburg on Thursday this week with Leseane, ELM Executive Mayor Gift Moerane, SALGA (South African Local Government Association), Treasury, COGTA (Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs) MEC Lebogang Maile and Eskom attending.
Talks between Moerane, Maile, Leseane and other stakeholders were also expected to take place on Friday this week to expedite and craft an affordable payment plan acceptable to all parties, said Leseane.
Leseane’s approach was fully endorsed this week by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Business (GTCoC) which said that unlike his predecessors the new Municipal Manager did not see business as the enemy but as an essential partner alongside the community.
GTCoC CEO Klippies Kritzinger said organised business was already assessing and preparing for a post-lockdown scenario to kickstart the Vaal economy with stakeholders, just as during lockdown the GTCoC was implementing major projects to alleviate hunger throughout Emfuleni.
Eskom should adopt an economically and socially responsible approach to the ELM debt issue, said Kritzinger.
“We fully welcome our Municipal Managers approach and wish him well in his negotiations with Eskom because it is vital that any deal does not undermine ELM’s ability to render services or overburden the ability of business and residents to pay reasonable revenue to the municipality.
“Before Mr Leseane – who in a short time has shown ability to prioritise and manage ELM on key fronts during an unprecedented cluster of crises – ELM revenue streams were destroyed by municipal capture and severe mismanagement of money-spinners like the BXCSA smart meter programme shut down for no valid reason.
“That’s why the GTCoC urges Eskom to take an economically and socially responsible view on ELM debt and actively assist in structuring a deal which will contribute to the recovery and indeed prosperity of the Vaal economy – something which can only benefit Eskom and help ELM to fund service delivery post Covid-19,”said Kritzinger.
Prior to Leseane’s appointment in late February, ELM reneged for a second time on its commitment to paying Eskom as mutually-agreed in a payment which itself emerged from a previous ELM payment default late last year.
Revenue from electricity is not only ELM’s biggest revenue stream, but forms the biggest single part of its total debt burden.
Eskom did not respond to requests for comment.
By Craig Kotze and originally published in the Vaalweekblad