ISSUE 121 - FREE
17
MARCH
the good news paper
2017
017 631 1903 / 017 631 1845 • admin@thebulletin.co.za • 1 Kiewiet Street, Secunda (Lake Umuzi)
Power stays on, BUT… Residents in the Govan Mbeki Municipality can still expect load shedding despite Eskom’s announcement that it will not go ahead with its intended electricity supply cut offs. Executive mayor, Flora MaboaBoltman said in an extraordinary council meeting on Tuesday that the municipality itself will implement load shedding as an internal matter to reduce the Notified Maximum Demand. This is one of several points on a repayment plan Govan Mbeki Municipality will implement to ensure Eskom receives the payments as per the latest agreement reached between the electricity supplier and the municipality on 9 March. The agreement was reached in the nick of time as Eskom was ready to interrupt the bulk electricity supply from 13 March. The new agreement stipulates that Govan Mbeki Municipality will pay R100 million towards its main Eskom account within the next two weeks. The municipality hopes to adhere to this by paying its current account of about R41 million on 16 March (today), paying over the money from equitable shares that the council expects to receive from the National Treasury on 17 March, and then to pay the outstanding balance by 30 March. Govan Mbeki also agreed that the balance of the arrear debt be rephrased until 31 December. All future accounts will be paid in full and on time, and the municipality will also consider making daily payments as money becomes available through the council’s collection project. The municipality’s repayment plan
is structured to include its current monthly Eskom bill, as well as instalments of between R20 million and R80 million per month on the arrears account of R352 million. If the council stick to this plan, they estimate to have paid off all the debt by the end of December. Highlights of the repayment plan include: • That equitable shares will be used to guarantee payment • That Smart Meters be implemented • That load shedding and control will be implemented to reduce Notified Maximum Demand. Although thankful that an agreement has been reached, opposition parties took this chance to clobber the ANC councillors. The EFF’s Thabiso Mofokeng called the council unjust and misleading for not allowing the community to buy their electricity directly from Eskom. Encee van Huyssteen, Caucus leader of the DA could not help to say: “We told you so!”. “In 2012 we had already warned this council that we were heading for disaster due to bad financial management. However, every time we come up with an idea or good plan, the ANC disregards it as a matter of political principle.” He accused the ANC for a lack of political will. The ANC accepted the DA’s Marietjie Fourie’s proposal for a monthly progress report to council on the debt repayment to Eskom. Several ANC councillors said the council must stand or fall in unity and that finger pointing is not resolving the problem. - Arisja Misselhorn
PJ Pretorius will be making his appearance this Sunday on The Voice South Africa which is aired on DSTV channel 101 at 17:30.
PJ has the voice A worship leader from Secunda will be making his debut this Sunday on the second season of SA’s latest and hottest new singing competition, The Voice South Africa. The 26 year-old PJ Pretorius will appear on the show for a blind audition (where the four coaches have their backs turned to the talent performing on stage). PJ hopes to learn from this experience. He tried out for Idols several years ago, but never made it past the first audition. In 2013 PJ made it to the boot camp round of The X Factor SA. “I did not want to enter another competition, but friends persuaded me to try again,” he said. PJ is a self-taught musician with a heart rooted in gospel music. The story of how he discovered his music talent is quite remarkable, considering that he was turned down for the school choir when he was in primary school. “I was a naughty and troubled teenager, but in Grade 10 at Hoërskool Oosterland, I was sent off to a Christian Camp, called Ek’s Derde. Here I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour
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and my whole life changed.” PJ made new friends who urged him on to join their youth band. “For lack of musical knowledge and instruments, I took up a percussion drum set. It just came naturally. Soon I realised the guitarists received more favour from the soundman, so I tried my hand at it. This too flowed from somewhere deep inside me.” Donovan, the worship leader at Kruik at the time, encouraged PJ to sing. This led to him being accepted into the church band. “I believe that Jesus anointed me with a musical talent at the time of my acceptance of Him. I did not choose music, it chose me.” After matric PJ spent a service year reaching out to the youth, and then decided to go into full-time ministry. He has since learned to play keyboard. PJ now also teaches music school for Swallow 15. He hopes to wow the judges and the country on The Voice SA. “I know I will not be singing gospel, but I will stay true to me and my first love. I want to move people with the talent God has given me,” he said.
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