Durban - The KwaZulu-Natal department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) says load shedding is becoming a huge financial burden on the province’s municipalities.
The department says the challenge of load shedding has been worsened by the fact that some municipalities have infrastructure that is very old and has not been maintained.
NEWS: KZN COGTA MEC, Bongi Sithole-Moloi is addressing mayors, speakers & MMs. She says they derive no pleasure in placing municipalities under administration, but they like assisting them when there are challenges. She adds that they only intervene where it's necessary. @IOL pic.twitter.com/rG1o06Qu4m
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) March 28, 2023
On Tuesday the department convened a meeting with mayors, speakers and municipal managers to discuss a litany of issues affecting the sphere in the province.
Delivering the report on the impact of load shedding on municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, Xolani Sibiya from the department said “municipalities need to limit the reliance on Eskom grid.”
“The constant load shedding is having an adverse effect on the electricity infrastructure due to constant switching on and off of these sensitive equipment.
“Municipalities are struggling with ageing electricity infrastructure that is dilapidated due to a lack of maintenance, refurbishment and investment on existing infrastructure, making them vulnerable when exposed to constant switching on and off – approximately.
“Theft of infrastructure also increases during load shedding as there is no deterrent against stealing the electricity infrastructure when there is no danger of being electrocuted whilst cutting or stealing electricity equipment.
“The failure and stealing of electricity equipment means municipalities must replace these equipment, mostly not budgeted for which affects service delivery on other sectors
“Network equipment not been designed for frequent switching, it affects oil filled equipment, where the risk of breakdown of equipment increases each time it gets switched,” Sibiya said.
According to Sibya’s report, some municipalities cough out as much as R180 000 a day to fix power infrastructure damaged as a result of load shedding.
“Additional costs for as-and-when-required contractors to assist in repairs of equipment due to load shedding – approximately R180 000 per day.
“Cable faults increases due to high loads after restoring supply of electricity – approximately R150 000 to R250 000/day of load shedding.
“Medium voltage switchgear failure – approximately R50 000 to R150 000/day of load shedding.
“Switching on and off of electricity (due load shedding) has an adverse impact on the functionality of some of the key priority infrastructure like pump stations, water reservoir telemetry systems, waste water treatment works, etc," he said.
Opening the gathering which was called under the banner of the MuniMec platform and give her a platform to address the local government sphere in the province, Cogta MEC, Bongi Sithole-Moloi spoke about the issue of placing municipalities under administration.
She said this is the last resort and they don’t derive any pleasure in implementing it.
Her comment comes as she is accused by the IFP (Inkatha Freedom Party) of destabilising municipalities under its watch to benefit her political party, the ANC.
“One of the issues that we want to state categorically, is that it is not in our best interest to put our municipalities under Section 139 interventions.
“We are much more comfortable supporting municipalities as per our mandate under Section 154 of the Constitution.
“However, this does not mean we will stand by while we see that a particular municipality does require closer intervention.
“We do this not with an intention to punish but with an intention to capacitate the municipality so that it is better able to serve its citizens.
“Once we satisfy ourselves that the municipality has regained its tempo, we then go back to providing support as per Section 154 of the Constitution.
“This approach, while desirable, is heavily dependent on our mayors and senior municipal officials playing their roles and ensuring that they conduct the business of council in a manner that is beyond reproach,” she said.
Current Affairs