Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Brandon Pretorius here
Residents of the City of Ekurhuleni are to be punished with rolling blackouts due to the ANC-EFF-ASA coalition’s inability to exercise financial discipline and failed to pay the city’s Eskom account.
A public notice issued by Eskom indicates that the power utility intends to switch the lights off as it is currently owed more than R2.3 billion and will be owed a further R1.5 billion come 7 March 2025.
Instead of prioritising residents, those who it is mandated to serve and ensuring its outstanding accounts are paid up, this doomsday coalition chose to pay excessive bonuses to the City Manager and Head of Departments (HOD).
Residents have to bear witness to the full scale collapse engulfing the CoE, they are subjected to the misery of service delivery failures daily, yet the ANC-EFF-ASA felt it prudent to further stuff extra cash into the pockets of already highly paid, non-performing officials.
The CoE finds itself in a desperate situation and swift intervention is required to arrest this cancer killing our residents.
I have reached out the Mayor, Ald. Nkosindiphile Xhakaza and the MMC for Finance, Ald. Jongizizwe Dlabathi requesting an audience with them so to find a solution to this matter urgently.
The Democratic Alliance is committed to ensuring that the lights remain on and that our residents are not punished for the failure of this coalition’s incompetence.