Soweto owes Eskom R17 billion – half of entire country’s debt
26 September 2019
The culture of defaulting among electricity consumers in Soweto is probably the single greatest reason why Eskom has been forced to its knees.
According to a report of the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) that was presented to the Gauteng Legislature's COGTA Committee, Soweto owes Eskom more than R17 billion, which amounts to half of the entire country's debt to Eskom.
Soweto has been defaulting for years and politicians have tried to convince electricity consumers to at least pay part of their debt, but without much success. Threats to cut off their power supply also serve no purpose. Residents maintain that the ANC promised them free electricity and water. This culture of non-payment has become the heritage of the ANC struggle.
In the meantime, the national electricity supplier is struggling to survive after experiencing a severe low in 2018. The situation is made worse by defaulters, fiscal irregularities, fraud and mismanagement.