- The Emfuleni municipality managed to make last minute salary payments to employees on Friday.
- The payments were delayed after Eskom seized municipal accounts over non-payment of debt.
- Emfuleni spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni told News24 there was a pending debt repayment proposal by Eskom that is yet to be considered by the city council.
Emfuleni municipal employees are breathing a sigh of relief after receiving last-minute December salary payments after Eskom's seizure of the municipality's assets.
The power utility obtained an order from the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria last month, permitting it to seize R1.3 billion worth of the municipality's assets.
It said the municipality owed it R5.3 billion, which it failed to settle despite litigation dating back to 2018.
Earlier this month, Eskom attached its account and movable assets, including vehicles. The seizure of the municipality's account threatened employees with non-payment of their December salaries.
Chairperson for the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), Mpho Tladinyane, told News24 there was a three-day delay with the salary payments.
He said the initial payment date was 20 December, but Eskom demanded a payment of R386 million before it would release the account. The municipality could not make this payment, he said.
Tladinyane said the matter was resolved after an intervention of several government stakeholders, including Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi's office.
"There have been several meetings between Eskom, the municipality, the Department of Public Enterprises, and the premier's office to try and resolve the matter because at the centre of it was that Eskom attached the bank accounts of the municipality. Eskom lifted its attachment of the municipality's account this morning, and the salaries are being paid," he said.
Earlier this week, the union expressed concern about the potential impact of non-payment.
It said:
Emfuleni municipality spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni confirmed the salary payments delay to News24. Asked how the municipality planned to settle the debt, he said Eskom drafted an "unreasonable" proposal which the council still needed to deliberate on.
"They want to take over the electricity supply, meaning they want residents to pay for electricity directly to them. This is unreasonable because it would leave us with no money. That is selfish. I don't think there is any municipality that should agree to that."
Sangweni said several factors caused the non-payment of Eskom's debt.
"We all know there is unemployment, and people are not paying for electricity. We also know that there are illegal connections across South Africa. Eskom knows our problems. Eskom is becoming the enemy of the people," he said.