South Africans are furious with the government, especially Eskom, on two fronts. Firstly, due to the cost of electricity per kilowatt hour and, secondly, as load reduction measures that have overnight taken the place of load shedding.
Eskom needs to explain to the public how electricity went from being affordable a few months ago to being totally unaffordable today. The varying tariff unit structures charged to households defies transparency.
Load reduction is the new buzz word while load shedding has been arrested and safely detained over the last 155 days, which equals to about five months of no load shedding.
But while load shedding has been suspended indefinitely communities still suffer power cuts due to load reduction. Eskom and municipalities are running an almost similar load shedding schedule around various townships and linked suburbs across the country. So the question ought to be asked, “Is load reduction camouflaged load shedding via a back-door?”
Load reduction is usually implemented during peak hours as a means to protect the mini electricity grid network for the affected area, and is now the new norm for those unfortunate to be living in targeted and affected areas.
Some communities still complain that they are left in the dark for days on end despite being told there is a rotational schedule.
It is time to face facts. Many South African municipalities and in particular, rural and semi-urban township-based municipalities, are broke and can’t afford to supply free electricity. This leads to a lack of service delivery.
The expectation is that customers who can afford electricity must pay. However, there are communities that can afford electricity but are not paying due to a prevalent non-paying culture in some areas.
And while Eskom and municipalities are quick to cut off the services of ratepayers behind with their account payments in urban areas, the same standard is not applied to many townships and rural areas. In those communities all services are provided and rendered for free without even a system of billing and electricity tariff collection.
How then do you build a capable state when the government fails at its own obligation at managing its own municipalities and ensuring that all municipalities can run effectively and charge for services rendered accordingly?
It is unfair to only tax and penalise a marginal section of households in society, but not charge others who can afford to pay due to the area they live in. A culture of paying for services needs to be cultivated.
The apartheid blame game is long over. In the apartheid days, yes, most municipalities were targeted and burned to the ground as a means to end apartheid.
But today the same old apartheid liberation struggle tactics are used against the government. These protest actions that no longer serve any purpose in the new South Africa, especially in the context of our developing state.
There are a number of reasons why people may not pay their municipal rates, taxes, water and electricity, including:
Poor service delivery:
People may be dissatisfied with the quality of services provided by their municipality, such as electricity, waste removal, road maintenance and infrastructure development.
Poverty and unemployment:
People may be unable to pay their rates and electricity due to financial difficulties and overall poverty and high rate of unemployment.
Inaccurate service charges:
People may believe that the service charges are based on an inaccurate calculation.
Non-existent municipality system for service charges:
Municipalities have no rates and billing systems in place to levy and charge for electricity and services rendered.
Illegal access:
People may be illegally accessing municipal services due to poor infrastructure maintenance and infrastructure vandalism.
Mismanagement:
People may believe that the municipality is mismanaging its revenue and as a result decide to boycott paying for services.
Community participation:
People may feel that they are not properly involved in the decision-making processes of the municipality.
Culture of non-payment:
Some say that a culture of non-payment has developed in South Africa, which may be linked to the apartheid rate boycotts. It is true that apartheid has a deep effect on SA culture of non-rate payments.
Municipalities do have the option to take on internal legal means to disconnect households for defaulting on paying for services. We know fully well that our court and justice system is fully loaded on a weekly basis with cases of property judgements due to defaults of all sorts. Property transfers can also be withheld due to unpaid electricity bills.
However, as much as Eskom has come a long way, the National Treasury and government need to sort out dysfunctional municipalities. Only then can South Africa really get to grips with service delivery and providing power to households.
On a brighter note, is good news to hear that Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago indicated that interest rates will be cut in the upcoming Monetary Policy Committee meeting. That reprieve will go a long way in boosting the economy and accelerating much needed economic growth.
Economic growth will help South Africa create jobs and enable a culture of paying for services. Only then can Eskom say it is out of the woods.
Crown Prince Adil Nchabeleng is president of Transform RSA and an independent energy expert.
* The views in this column are independent of Business Report and Independent Media.
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