The Kroonstad-based Moqhaka Municipality says it has embarked on an amnesty programme and if successful, this will help the municipality to service its R758 million debt to Eskom. According to the municipal spokesperson, Dika Kheswa, the municipality wants those who are utilising the power supply from Eskom through illegal connections, to come forward and declare it to avoid receiving penalties for the infringement. He says because 70% of the municipal revenue comes from services such as electricity supply, this is necessary to turn the tide for the municipality. The amnesty programme will end on 11 August and those who ignored the call will have to face the might of the law.

“Since the 11th of July, we have embarked on an illegal electricity amnesty period whereby we give those who have illegally connected, bypassed or tempered with our electricity meters, amnesty. They can come and report and there will not be penalties up until 11 August 2022. We want to start on a clean slate,” Kheswa adds.

Meanwhile, Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke, in her recent report, raised some of her concerns with Free State Municipalities, including Moqhaka.

In her latest report, she said most municipalities struggled to perform preventative maintenance and safeguard their infrastructure assets, because they spent only 1% of their infrastructure value on repairs and maintenance, compared to the norm of 8%.

She indicated that repairs were only done after assets had broken down. “For example, a wastewater treatment plant that was earmarked to be decommissioned in Moqhaka continued to be used while design challenges on the new plant were being addressed. Due to the lack of maintenance over a number of years, the plant was not functioning effectively, resulting in sewage spillage that contaminated the Vaal River,” she said.

Maluleke further added that the debt of municipalities exceeded R8,69 billion (2019: R7,41 billion). “The amounts they owed to Eskom and the water boards continued to increase, reaching R12,45 billion (2019: R10,52 billion). Unmetered consumption, theft, and a lack of maintenance resulted in average water losses of 49% and electricity distribution losses of 20%,” Maluleke further added.

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