AfriForum’s Brits branch compiled a petition after Eskom threatened to cut off the electricity to the town and the surrounding areas from 3 July 2020 due to the debt owed by the Madibeng Local Municipality. The Municipality owes approximately R138 million to Eskom and the organisation hopes that the petition will help to prevent the electricity supply from being cut off. Eskom intends on cutting off the electricity to Brits, Elandsrand, Lethlabile, Oukasie, Damonsville and Primindia.
The organisation has already directed letters to both Jostina Mothibe, Mayor of the Madibeng Local Municipality, and Eskom, in which requests are made that the electricity must not be suspended.
“The Madibeng Local Municipality is continuously proving that they are incompetent to manage natural and financial sources. In this instance, the residents of the area are duteously paying their electricity accounts to the Municipality, but the Municipality keeps on failing to pay its account at Eskom. The incompetent and ignorant municipal management gave rise to a situation where the Municipality now owes Eskom a massive amount,” says Petrus Coetzee, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Marico.
According to the management of the Brits branch, it is especially worrying that the community now also needs to be concerned about basic services such as water and electricity supply in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AfriForum will do everything possible to ensure that the town’s lights stay on. You can help by signing the petition. Members of the public have until 12 June 2020 to sign the petition.