In July 2022, the Letsemeng Local Municipality’s account was in arrears with R119.7 million. According to Eskom’s Stefanie van Rensburg, Letsemeng's overdue debt on their bulk account as of the end of February 2023 was R142 million. 

In a leaked document, the acting municipal manager (MM), K. Masekoane, of the troubled municipality said the municipality’s primary bank account has been frozen by Eskom. He says the municipality has just over R15.8 million in cash, however, R8.8 million of this amount is in the primary bank account of the municipality and the remaining R7.5 million is in the investment account held by Absa.

“Based on the fact that we cannot process any transaction of the FNB account, which is the account we use to make payments, we approached the Xhariep District Municipality to assist us with the payment salaries for March 2023. Council has resolved that we should redeem R3.5 million from the investment account for the payment of salaries. The instructions to redeem funds have been made to Absa bank, however, there is a slight delay as the investment team from Absa is consulting their legal team on whether they would not be contravening any legislation if they transfer from our investment account to that of another municipality, as such the investment hasn't been redeemed yet. The salary transfer files are ready and awaiting the redemption of investment from Absa,” Masekoane said.

In 2022, the Letsemeng Local Municipality dragged Eskom to the High Court following a lengthy dispute with Eskom over millions of rands owed to Eskom.

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In 2022, Eskom slammed Letsemeng and other municipalities. Eskom said there is an unwillingness from municipalities to settle their debts.

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According to the General Manager of Eskom’s Central East Cluster (Free State and KwaZulu-Natal), Agnes Mlambo, the municipalities had approached the courts to challenge Eskom's intention to cut the power supply due to non-payment.

"These judgments conclude lengthy legal battles that started in 2020 when Eskom served the municipalities notices to interrupt electricity services due to non-payment of electricity accounts, and it is Eskom’s belief that these judgments put the cases to rest as they have been used by the delinquent municipalities to continue taking payment holidays," she said In January 2020, Letsemeng’s arrears were said to total R41.1million. Two and a half years later, the municipality’s overdue debt allegedly grew to R119.7 million.

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