Four Western Cape municipalities owe Eskom nearly R256m; only two have payment plans in place

Beaufort West, Cederberg, Kannaland and Matzikama (Vredendal) owed Eskom nearly R256-million as at 11 August, Anton Bredell, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, told Parliament.

Bredell provided this information in a parliamentary reply to Derrick America, the provincial legislature’s chairperson of its local government oversight committee, who asked which municipalities in the Western Cape were in debt to state energy utility Eskom and how much they owed. America also asked if there were payment plans in place and if they were being adhered to.

Bredell said Eskom had reported that the following municipalities in the province were in debt as at 11 August:

• Matzikama : R 97,019,771.04


• Beaufort West: R78,468,653.26


• Cederberg: R47,811,007.53


• Kannaland: R 32,407,515.23

The four municipalities owed a total of R255,706,947.06 to Eskom, the MEC said in his reply. Bredell said payment plans had been developed and terms agreed to with the Cederberg and Kannaland municipalities.

The Kannaland municipality, Bredell said in the reply, was adhering to its payment plan, with current bills to be settled monthly and debt and interest to be paid in monthly instalments.

Cederberg’s Eskom debt was also being settled, Bredell said. A payment arrangement was in place, with the municipality’s current Eskom bills to be settled monthly. “Debt and interest to be paid in monthly instalments,” read Bredell’s response. But, he added, “according to Eskom, there are currently no payment arrangements in place” with Matzikama and Beaufort West municipalities.

Beaufort West is in a national and provincial Treasury-backed financial recovery plan for, among other issues, its debt to Eskom and its poor financial and governance situation.

This is not the first time Beaufort West and Kannaland have been pointed out as being in debt with Eskom, as detailed in a 2021 Daily Maverick report.

In a statement issued by Bredell’s department in March 2022, where the same municipalities were highlighted as having Eskom debt, Bredell said his department, working with the provincial treasury, had put preventative measures in place to reduce the municipalities’ debt.

“These measures include the regular monitoring of debt amounts owed by municipalities as well as ensuring the effective implementation of and adherence to signed Payment Arrangements between municipalities and Eskom to ensure that these arrangements are honoured,” Bredell said in a statement at the time. Progress on this issue was being reported to Bredell monthly, he confirmed.

Daily Maverick reported in May 2022 that municipal debt to Eskom stood at R40.9-billion at the end of September 2021. DM