Emfuleni MMC blames high unemployment for its R8 billion debt to Eskom

VAAL TRIANGLE - Emfuleni municipality's Finance MMC, Hassan Mako, has blamed high unemployment that hampers revenue collection, for the municipality’s inability to pay the R8 billion it owes Eskom. The municipality’s bank accounts were recently attached to Eskom to ensure that the money collected for electricity is paid directly to the power utility. Mako expressed concern about the municipality’s inability to use grants allocated for service delivery. He warned that this could lead to a rapid decline in services. He said the municipality was not happy with how the matter was handled by Eskom and had therefore reverted to the courts. Mako said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika this area has been affected by disinvestment in the steel industry, which has caused people in Emfuleni to lose jobs. He said this makes it difficult for the municipality to collect revenue, and one of the weaknesses is the systems that are put in place. According to Mako, they are trying to mitigate those particular circumstances to ensure that they stimulate the economy, which includes starting the special economic zone, where they have donated about 600ha of land. This includes the Vaal River City investment for which construction started – it is valued at R1.4bn.

VIDEO: (Emfuleni Local Municipality Facebook page - Full interview with Newzroom Afrika)