Politics

Western Cape to Inject R70m into 6 Municipalities to Cut Ties with Eskom

Wednesday, March 17, 2021 at 8:53 AM by Reeshni Chetty

- The Western Cape government is planning to inject R70 million into cutting ties with Eskom

- Six districts will receive the money over the next few years in order to beat load-shedding

- Provincial Minister of Finance David Maynier revealed the information while delivering his budget speech

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Western Cape provincial Minister of Finance David Maynier delivered his budget speech on Tuesday, 16 March. Maynier revealed that the province's government will be allocating R70 million to help areas get off Eskom's grid.

Maynier said the money would be spent over the next few years and the areas that would be getting the financial help to cut ties with the power utility are Drakenstein, Mossel Bay, Overstrand, Saldanha Bay, Stellenbosch and Swartland.

The Municipal Energy Resilience Project (MERP) is aimed at beating load-shedding within the province.

Western Cape, R70m over few years, get rid of loadshedding — The Western Cape will be injecting R70 million over the next few years to cut ties with Eskom and generate their own power. Image: Dwayne Senior/Bloomberg
Source: Getty Images

According to BusinessInsider, the electricity distribution will be evaluated to ensure the municipalities are able to support the new power that is being generated as well as the energy trading.

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Maynier stated that the project is both 'bold and ambitious' but it is there to support municipalities by enabling them to sell and procure their own power in order to beat load-shedding in the province, according to Daily Maverick.

Briefly.co.za recently shared a post on Facebook about the Stage 2 load-shedding. Take a look at the post and some of the responses below:

Cphesh Mazibuko said:

"Thanks, Eskom, we appreciate what you are doing for us."

Thubelihle Zuma wrote

"Yoh I'm not even surprised any more. Eskom has always done this."

Adelaide Simphiwe Mbatha commented:

"It's not surprising any more."

Previously, Briefly.co.za reported on a scary video of an Eskom power plant going up in flames. According to various clips that were circulating on social media, a conveyor belt at Eskom's Kendal Power Station in Mpumalanga caught fire and caused an understandable wave of fear and disaster in the area.