MIDDELBURG — Nkangala District Executive Mayor Thomas Ngwenya has urged Eskom to separate service delivery from municipal debt after the utility allegedly refused to energise a newly built substation in eMalahleni Local Municipality over an R11 billion arrears bill.
The issue emerged during a Strategic Lekgotla and was raised publicly on 09 April 2026.
“If the substation is not energised, it would mean that the municipality would not have spent 100% of the particular grant, and that will negatively affect the municipality from receiving grants from the Treasury,” Ngwenya said.
Ngwenya said the matter surfaced during a Strategic Lekgotla meeting, where it emerged that Eskom is refusing to connect the substation due to debt owed by eMalahleni.
He described Eskom’s stance as “wrong”, noting that the substation was funded through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), a conditional allocation from the National Treasury for basic infrastructure such as water, sanitation, roads and electricity.
Municipalities that fail to fully spend MIG allocations risk receiving reduced funding in subsequent financial years.
Ngwenya said the decision goes beyond officials. “It affects people’s rights to access energy,” he said. He added that the district has already approached the provincial Department of Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (CoGHSTA) to intervene and engage Eskom for a solution.
eMalahleni is one of the Mpumalanga municipalities Eskom is pressuring to sign the Distribution Agency Agreement (DAA). The agreement allows Eskom to take over parts of a municipality’s electricity distribution, including billing and revenue collection, to improve service delivery and recover debt.
These agreements are intended to curb debt growth by reducing electricity losses and improving revenue collection.
The Highveld Chronicle sent questions to Eskom a week ago. Spokesperson Daphney Mokoena said Eskom was not part of the meeting mentioned and could therefore not comment on issues raised there. “However, any matter relating to service provision forms part of the Electricity Supply Agreement between eMalahleni and Eskom,” Mokoena said.
eMalahleni Local Municipality had not commented on the debt or the substation status at the time of publication.
