EFFORTPOST Free State province Municipalities stop paying ESKOM taxes since 2006. [LOW-EFFORT]

(not the deleted Longpost )

Greetings Dramastrags

At some point in 2006, an unknown politician got the galaxy brained idea to NOT pay ESKOM their dues for supplying his specific city district in the Free State, electricity. The reason was simple - he was a politician trying to cater to his poor as dirt base, and came up with the idea that he would lower taxes under his specific regime, and the shortfall would be cut directly from the payments meant for ESKOM, out of his municipal annual budget.

After all, electricity was one of the rights protected and guaranteed by the National Government and even limitedly guaranteed by the SA constitution. ESKOM would never dare to cut off electricity for the poorest of black township dwellers, no matter how much they raved and raved. The idea was simple. Promise constituents lower taxes than could not be realistically expected, while still providing the minimally required civil services. Cut shortfall from ESKOM payments. ESKOM high command cannot disable electricity without accusations of human rights abuse against their own citizens. Politician who created this debt retires, and fricks off without a worry. Then it's the next fool's problem. No really.

The next election, a new smartass promises the same bullshit of low taxes or not having to pay electricity bills under their regime, and the ESKOM debt keeps ballooning. The political competition in these townships with morals and braincells, aka the ones who do NOT promise that the townships won't have to pay zero electrical bills, have no chance to be voted into that municipality's command. And the ESKOM budget keeps ballooning, over and over.

Finally 15 years later, the Free State having already struggled with electricity demands, is one of the worst of the 9 provinces stuck under National Loadshedding Catastrophe.

Who the originator was of this tactic is now shrouded in myth, because so many politicians in the Free State copied this election tactic, that it became a fricking norm by the end of 2006.

WITNESS THE HORROR SHOW:

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-07-16-eskom-to-cut-power-to-two-free-state-municipalities-from-over-non-payment/

In 2018 there was loadshedding before we truly had an understanding of it in the Tokologo and Nala municipalities. The two absolute worsts and most infamously corrupt municipal regions in the entire province. If the municipalities still failed to pay ESKOM, then from July 24 the power supply would be cut for 14 hours between 6am and 8pm. Basically ESKOM would have played hardball with the extremely indebted councils till they started paying what they owed.

=======(from article)

The municipalities entered into an agreement with Eskom on June 25, a day before they were supposed to have power supply cut off due to non-payment.

They had to pay a certain amount of money at the end of June and again on July 13, but then reneged on these agreements and only made some of the payments at the end of June. According to Phasiwe, they completely omitted the payment on July 13.

“Since they failed to pay, we have to withdraw that product for that particular period we mentioned,” he said.

“Let’s put it this way, the only way for them to get themselves out of this situation is if they come with a huge sum of money,” he said. Tokologo municipality owes R30-million.

“If they come with R5-million, we will not buy their story because we have already seen they are not in a position to honour the agreement.”

========(end of article)

And the poor citizens would be the ones paying for Nala's bullshit, can you imagine that?

https://mg.co.za/article/2015-03-01-eskom-threatens-to-turn-off-the-lights-in-free-state-towns/

To further shed light on the rot and reasons why modern ESKOM is in such a poor state, and how Loadshedding came to be, we only have to look at the Free State's insurmountable debt which had grew to such an extent, that they have started to be unable to even afford to pay the interest on these fricking loans.

https://mg.co.za/article/2018-05-17-00-the-top-ten-municipal-culprits-not-paying-eskom-debt/

"The top 10 defaulting municipalities owe Eskom R9.73-billion, and a parliamentary committee has resolved to meet with them to find out why they are not paying their debts."

The national government had to come down to the backwater of Free State just to ask our clowns why the frick they were not paying their dues.

==========(from article)

The standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday was briefed by Eskom, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the South African Local Government Association and National Treasury to find out what efforts are being made to address escalating municipal debt owed to Eskom.

Eskom chairperson Jabu Mabuza told Scopa that since the last meeting with the committee in March, debt had risen to R13.88-billion. Eskom previously told the committee on public enterprises in April that debt stood at R13.5-billion.

Over 12 months during the year 2017/18, municipal debt swelled by 40% or R4.16-billion , said Eskom’s group executive of customer services Ayanda Noah.

The Free State, Mpumalanga and North West were among the worst offenders, while Gauteng and the Northern Cape also raised concern, according to Eskom’s submission to Parliament. The submission also revealed the top 10 defaulting municipalities.

========(end article)

The next list is basically boring detail, so feel free to skip, and ignore. I'm only including them just to demonstrate how fricking surgical our journ*lists are at identifyig the precise problem local governments, and to even be able to identify exactly how fricking much they owe to ESKOM, and yet nothing is done by our Provincial or National government to remove these parasites. This is what's meant when we say corruption is done openly in South Africa The top ten defaulting municipalities are:

1 - Maluti-A-Phofung in the Free State: (FREE STATE NUMBAH ONE B-WORD!!! )

This municipality owes Eskom R2.8-billion. It has over 11 000 Eskom customers and no payment arrangements have been made with the power utility. A court process is still under way and until it has been concluded, applicants have to pay Eskom directly.

2 - Matjhabeng in the Free State: This municipality owes Eskom R1.8-billion. It has over 49 000 Eskom customers and there is a draft payment arrangement.

3 - eMalahleni in Mpumalanga: This municipality owes Eskom R1.6-billion and has over 117 000 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. A court interdict is currently stopping Eskom from interrupting power.

4 - Ngwathe in the Free State: This municipality owes Eskom R936-million and does not have Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement with the municipality which is being adhered to.

5 - Emfuleni in Gauteng: This municipality owes Eskom R606-million and has over 29 000 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement which is being adhered to.

6 - Govan Mbeki in Mpumalanga: This municipality owes Eskom R517-million and has over 6 600 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. The court will hear the matter on May 21 2018.

7 - Lekwa in Mpumalanga: This municipality owes Eskom R491-million and has over 6 400 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. There is a court interdict and customers have to pay Eskom directly.

8 - Thaba Chweu in Mpumalanga: This municipality owes Eskom R431-million and has over 61 300 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. There is currently a court interdict to prevent Eskom from interrupting power supply.

9 - Ditsobotla in the North West: This municipality owes Eskom R293-million and has over 43 000 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. There is a court interdict, ordering customers to pay Eskom directly.

10 - Naledi in the North West: This municipality owes Eskom R280-million and has over 17 500 Eskom customers. There is a payment arrangement but it is not being adhered to. The matter was set to go before the courts on May 16.

The point is these municipalities are SO CORRUPT, they make eskom look benign in comparison.

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2023-03-24-these-are-the-five-municipalities-that-owe-eskom-the-most/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-13-culture-of-non-payment-leaves-eskom-with-a-r50bn-debt-headache/

Just look at this magnificent INFOgraphic by the DailyMacerick:

Heey I've worked for these r-slurs in Matjhabeng!

BUT FREE STATE ALONE IS ALMOST A BLACK HOLE OF TAXES:

https://www.news24.com/fin24/free-state-municipalities-owe-eskom-almost-r2bn-20150505

https://www.news24.com/fin24/Economy/Eskom/r135bn-municipal-debt-burden-really-beyond-eskom-20180418

The unpaid debt began to become so vast by 2018, in both the Free State and country as a whole, that ESKOM, could no longer afford all of the costs associated with generating electricity, such as buying coal, paying drivers, and maintaining Power Stations.

And the worst part was that these corrupt leaches who dominated in the local governments for the ANC would fight ESKOM every step of the way to not pay their fricking debts, or even the interest upon their debts.

Even as late as 2022, it's still continuing.

https://www.news24.com/news24/politics/parliament/no-money-and-no-electricity-maluti-a-phofung-in-governance-freefall-as-eskom-debt-balloons-20221124

https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/16-free-state-municipalities-owe-eskom-over-r17-billion/

“Even in these trying times, Eskom is expected to provide electricity to these municipalities while maintaining its networks and paying for diesel to ensure security supply and meet demand. Municipal debt puts an immense burden on Eskom revenue stream which negatively affects service delivery, we urge both eskom and municipal customers to use electricity legally and to pay for all services when due,” says Makhetha.

ESKOM WON DEBT COURT CASE IN 2020:

https://www.esi-africa.com/southern-africa/court-confirms-eskoms-right-to-payment-for-services-rendered/

The tax money owed to ESKOM by these indebted municipalities had to be forced out of them every step of the way via courts and external forces. It's the height of corruption.

They tried to bring ESKOM to the court that ESKOM cannot shut down elec as that would influence human rights of township dwellers negatively, and that that was the basis for them not having to pay - I'm not joking. They had to go to the Supreme court to determine that there was no legal basis for not paying their fricking electricity bill - on a national level LMOA.

https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/eskom-vs-municipalities-that-owe-billions-concourt-to-rule-on-human-catastrophe-2022-05-24

ESKOM even went to the South African constitutional court to make it legal that it should not be compelled to provide Elektricity for non paying municipalities.

"We don't know why it is not paid over to Eskom." Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

SO WHY DOESN'T MUNICIPALITIES NOT JUST PAY?

It's because they literally steal everything not nailed down. They bloat their own salaries beyond what the standard is, and leave virtually nothing left for regular maintenance, or paying the monthly/annual municipal expenses. And it's open and blatant and absolutely fricking apparent. The steriyotype of municipal workers driving BMWs with black tinted-windows didn't come from nowhere. ANC municipal leaders, whom are nothing more than basic secretaries, driving across Free State potholes in their BMWs are the apex of the Free State shitshow. WHERE DID THEY GET THAT MONEY??

https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/courts/maluti-a-phofung-managers-money-5-may-2022/

While low level workers don't even get their minimum pay

https://www.ofm.co.za/article/centralsa/318989/free-state-municipality-yet-to-pay-over-450-workers

https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/two-months-without-salaries-for-free-state-municipal-workers-20220628

And they can't afford to do basic maintenance like pothole rehabilitation or fixing water pipes

https://www.polity.org.za/article/bloemwater-budget-meets-only-6-of-matjhabeng-maintenance-requirements-2023-02-27

=====(from article about Bloemwater)

The national Department of Water and Sanitation has acknowledged that Bloemwater has a budget shortfall of R377 million to address the maintenance backlog in Matjhabeng Local Municipality regarding water infrastructure.

In a written parliamentary reply to the Democratic Alliance (DA), the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, indicated that Bloemwater has allocated R25,2 million for the maintenance of infrastructure, whilst it needs R402 million to address the maintenance backlog.

Matjhabeng loses 56% of its water due to failing infrastructure, per year, amounting to R324 million worth of water lost, according to the latest Auditor General report.

The DA calls on the Premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, to include in his State of the Province Address tomorrow some indication of how the Free State provincial government will work with the national government to urgently address this slippery slope to ensure that Matjhabeng is not forced into a full-scale crisis soon. Residents of Riebeeckstad were without water for 7 weeks recently and their water problems have still not completely been resolved.

========(End of article)

I was there in Riebeeckstad, I had to sleep over in town there for long distance farm work nearby, and I could not fricking shower for 7 weeks!!!!1111111

https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/state-runs-out-of-cash-struggles-to-pay-salaries-20190701

Anyway that's uh all I got, I don't know how to end this one.