He says residents owe the municipality over R370 million while local businesses owe about R67 million. This, after the power utility cut electricity to the municipality for the past few weeks for failing to repay its debt of R270 million. 

The mayor has further threatened to disconnect or cut off those who are defaulting on their payments. Skalk says the municipality has reached an agreement with Eskom, and the municipality is expected to pay about R12 million a month.  

The municipality is among the top three municipalities in the country, and the first in the province, that owes Eskom millions of rands in arrears.

OFM News previously reported that the National and Provincial Treasury Department withheld the equitable shares of 15 municipalities in the North West province. 

Recently, Premier Job Mokgoro placed 15 out of 22 municipalities under administration due to a number of factors, including the mismanagement of funds, maladministration and Councillors neglecting their legislative duties. 

The Provincial Department of Treasury spokesperson, Kesalopa Gill, told OFM News that the decision to withhold the shares to these municipalities comes after these municipalities adopted unfunded budgets and failed to comply with directives from National and Provincial Treasury.

OFM News