IN spite of Inxuba Yethemba Municipality municipal manager, Xolela Msweli’s promise that R10 000 would be paid to Eskom last Friday, it was not done and residents of Cradock and Middelburg, Michausdal and Hillside woke up to darkness this past Tuesday.
The lights of Llingelihle, Cradock, were not affected as they get their electricity supply directly from Eskom.
Eskom, which has been trying to collect the outstanding debt of R98,5 million from Inxuba Yethemba for years, implemented the first power cut at 06:00 on Tuesday.
A notice warning residents of the pending power cut, had been circulated in both towns for more than a week.
A very urgent residents’ meeting was held at the Victoria Manor at 11:00 on Tuesday and both the Cradock and Middelburg Business Forums have resolved to instruct Attorney Frikkie Coetzee to engage the services of an advocate to get an interdict against Inxuba Yethemba Municipality to ring fence all monies paid for electricity and to pay such amount directly to Eskom.
An amount of R150 000 is needed to obtain the interdict, of which Cradock will be responsible for R80 000 and Middelburg for R60 000.
As this affects the whole community, both businesses and private homes, all residents were requested to contribute to the action.
Deposits can be made as follows:
Cradock Business Forum
Standard Bank, account: 082555958
Middelburg Sakekamer
First National Bank, account: 62413658826
Branch code: 20318
Msweli expressed his regret about the power outage experienced in Middelburg and Cradock. “This is a consequence of a debt to Eskom incurred by the municipality in previous years.
“As the municipality, we are doing our best to keep the lights on and the community will be updated on any developments regarding this matter,” he said in the statement.
He added that the municipality had embarked on a number of actions to ensure that an amicable solution was found.
“Those include a pending agreement with CHDM to pay Eskom which will be tabled at the special mayoral meeting for approval.
“A motion to interdict Eskom from implementing the electricity outages will be heard on Thursday (today) at the Grahamstown High Court. The outcomes of that will be communicated. We apologise for the inconvenience to our residents and businesses that are affected by the outage,” he concluded.
