Johannesburg has a mounting debt crisis with literally every single service already on it's knees. Johannesburg City is run by the ruling government party the ANC and are now under pressure nationally trying to cling onto power.
This morning the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) threatens the City Of Johannesburg that they are ready to cut the power supply due to unpaid bills. The current debt owed of R5.25 billion will rise to the current bill due on the 5th adding another R1.6 billion totaling close to R7 billion in outstanding payments.
Eskom has had no choice, but to issue a notice of intent to reduce supply or terminate supply to certain bulk power suppliers. Eskom's argument is that this is unacceptable for the city's residents to carry the burden of Johannesburg's growing debt.
The problem is where is all the money because as a resident if we do not pay our monthly bills we are cut off within 7 days or receiving a no payment notice. This is even if you are questioning the bill having found irregularities in the billing. Their argument is you have to pay the bill and query the billing afterwards which can take you months to fix.
This is going to get worse as the households who pay their bills leave the grid due to solar and why the intimidating tactics being used to try and prevent this from happening. Borehole households are also under attack now because the City needs those people paying their bills and not moving off grid.
I know an engineer that works for Eskom and he mentioned Eskom were fed up with the lies being told how bad their service supply is. He said that the problem was with City Power and the ageing infrastructure that was not fit for purpose. Eskom would be blamed for all the outages and they no longer assist with these outages and why they are experiencing outages longer than normal. Eskom would always be used as an excuse why the power was out when it was not the case.
City Power is the problem which is part of the City Of Johannesburg and the money collected has been stolen through spending irregularities known as corruption. We know someone that works for City Power who owns a BMW M6 (5 years wages for her position) which they "obtained" recently from what must be questionable means. They cannot afford the petrol to drive the vehicle and it is a certainty this is also not insured. This has to be a pay off or backhander through corrupt means.
City Power was under investigation back in 2024 for having incurred irregular expenditure exceeding R4.9 billion yet there has been no updates to that investigation. Nothing will happen and if the heat gets too much those guilty employees will just vanish. I can assure you the corrupt employee we are aware of will disappear overseas for a few years before she is found out.
Eskom's threat may be a way for the government to pay the outstanding debt because the ANC supporters will not be happy if their power is cut. We actually hope it happens because change is desperately needed and the local mayoral elections are due in November this year. The problem is whoever comes in will have so much debt that to make any infrastructure improvements there will be no funds. The water supply is not far off total collapse either and electricity is just the first major problem being revealed with other services close behind.