MTBPS: SA Furious That Municipalities’ R56.8 Billion Eskom Debt Will Be Written Off in 3 Years

• SA citizens were furious after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed that municipalities' debt would be scrapped
• Godongwana made the announcement when delivering his Mid-Term Budget Policy Speech in Parliament
• Netizens foretold terrible times ahead after Godongwana said that the R56.8 billion will be written off over a three-year period

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in South Africa, covered policy changes and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

South Africans condemned the news that the government has written off municipal debt owed to Eskom for three years. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana made the announcement when he delivered the Mid-Term Budget Policy Speech in Parliament. Netizens shared their views and unanimously agreed that staving off municipal debt was a terrible idea.

Municipalities' Eskom debt to be scrapped

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Godongwana revealed that 67 municipalities owed Eskom R56.8 billion. According to The South African, these municipalities applied to have their debt to the power utility scrapped because they are struggling to pay the bill.

Godongwana said during the MTBPS speech that the government has created an Eskom Debt relief arrangement, which will see the government writing off municipal debt. This will continue as long as the municipalities meet specific requirements. Failure to do so will result in the municipalities paying off their debt.

Mzansi condemns government

South Africans, commenting on X (formerly Twitter), criticised the government for what they believed was a careless move, as Eskom's problems will not end in this manner.

Gareth Ochse said:

“Not clever. The individuals/ households/ municipalities that do pay just learned (again) that there are no consequences if they don’t, and this penalises well-run municipalities who would otherwise attract more residents because of how relatively well-run they are.”

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Go nca added:

“Some things are just not right at all. The electricity-supplying entity writes off debts while being bailed out by the Treasury, and the government adds more loans to the fiscus. The finance minister warned that the government may run out of money in March 2024.”

Ms Zama asked:

“HTF are we writing off Eskom’s debt from corrupt municipalities with no investigations or arrests? Same people to remain in the same posts to repeat the same mistakes!”

Qb shared:

“Once you start writing it off, it will become expected. Those who don’t pay, will never pay. And some of those paying will follow suit. The end is near.”

R34 billion to be added to SRD grant

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana revealed that R34 billion will be added to the Social Relief of Distress R350 grant. Godongwana said that the grant will continue until 2025 and will not be stopped until the entire social grant system is comprehensively analysed.

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South Africans were disappointed that so much money was going into the SRD grant. The National Union of Municipal Chambers of Commerce and Industry's president, Albert Jeleni, believed that the funds could empower SMMEs to create jobs.

Source: Briefly News