Issue 153 - FREE
10 November 2017
the good news paper
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
DA gives GMM 14 days to respond to their demands Residents stood united on Friday when they partook in a peaceful DA march to keep Govan Mbeki Municipality’s lights on. They handed over a memorandum of demands to the Acting Municipal Manager, T Mhlanga. One of these demands was that the acting Municipal Manager must ensure payment of Eskom debt which caused huge uproar last month when Eskom decided that they had enough of empty promises and cut power to Secunda, eMbalenhle, Bethal and Trichardt. Violent protests
broke out in eMbahlenhle and after threats of marching to the Mayor’s house were made, Eskom were paid about R50 million. But this amount doesn’t seem like a lot compared to the R450 million that is still owed to Eskom. Govan Mbeki Municipality has been on Eskom’s disconnection list for nonpayment since 2015 and although arrangements between GMM and Eskom took place, GMM never kept their promises. The municipality owed Eskom R124 million in 2014 and has managed
to more than triple this amount in the past 3 years. According to DA Councilor, Marietjie Fourie, the municipality’s inability to pay due debt is pushing GMM closer to the brink of disaster. She also said that the municipality failed to pay Eskom, because of their (GMM) systematic failure to implement revenue generation and collection systems that are viable on the long run. This is also the reason why GMM is owed R848 million. The DA also demanded that the municipality stick to their contractual
agreements with Eskom and to improve revenue generation and revenue collection systems. More demands were for the municipality to pay Eskom and all creditors within the 30-day period, as determined by MFMA and to not use the Local Government Equitable Share for repaying Eskom, but rather for community upliftment, as originally intended. They DA said that, should the municipality not respond positively by 17 November, their demonstrations will intensify.