Eskom has cut the lights in Litchenburg. Picture: Dumisani Sibeko/African (ANA) Archives
The DA in the North West says it has instructed its legal representatives to initiate an urgent High Court application against Eskom after it cut the lights in Lichtenburg, demanding payment over a R1 billion debt owed by the troubled Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
IOL reported at the weekend that Eskom’s decision to cut the power had affected the town of Lichtenburg, the main economic hub of the municipality, which includes areas like Coligny and Biesiesvlei.
The DA’s North West leader, Leon Basson, who is also an MP, said Eskom was taking an "unethical decision refusing to restore electricity supply to affected areas in Lichtenburg".
Basson said Eskom was acting in contempt of court after a 2017 court judgment ordered that the entity may not suspend electricity supply unless it is for maintenance or repair purposes, which he said was also supported by the Constitutional Court.
"Lichtenburg residents and businesses have been without electricity supply for 18 days now after a pylon fell over on July 27, 2023, and a transformer was vandalised.
"Eskom has replaced the transformer but is now abusing the situation at the expense of residents who have suffered financial losses and endured the inconvenience of this sustained blackout in a bid to recover money from the Ditsobotla Local Municipality’s R1 billion unpaid bulk electricity debt.
"Eskom is now effectively denying residents their constitutional right to enjoy access to electricity because of its own failures to pursue legal and ethical debt recovery avenues that would not further inconvenience paying residents and businesses," said Basson, who said the situation in Lichtenburg could best be described as oppressive.
"This entire situation shows that wherever the ANC is in charge, people suffer.
"Eskom is under the management of the ANC in national government, yet it is in dispute with an ANC-governed municipality.
"The common thread running through the misery people continue to endure is the ANC.
"It is unnecessary because people can vote for a better government," Basson said.
According to the municipality, in a statement on Friday, Eskom told officials that the municipality had to pay a certain amount of its outstanding debts before it can restore the electricity supply in Lichtenburg.
The municipality has approached the North West Provincial Government for assistance.
"Eskom's turnaround and delaying tactics have caught the municipality by surprise because we thought the problem of the electricity blackout in Lichtenburg could have expeditiously been addressed a long time ago by Eskom," the municipality said in a statement.