Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Failed attempts to settle Free State power debt prove new interventions are just lip service

Numerous failed attempts since 2022 to settle the Eskom debt of four Free State municipalities have left AfriForum concerned that communities are being paid lip service with the latest interventions. The latest plans involve the municipalities reaching an intervention agreement with Eskom so that 15 towns are not left without power.

“The Minister of Electricity and Energy Dr. Kgosientsho Ramokgopa’s promise that these towns’ power will not be cut off by Eskom if the municipalities sign the agreement, does not exactly reassure residents. The municipalities concerned have repeatedly proven that they cannot comply with basic conditions to settle their electricity debt,” says Deidré Steffens, Advisor for Local Government Affairs at AfriForum.

In Eskom’s notice to the community of the Moqhaka Local Municipality, the power utility outlined the various remedies it had used in the past to recover the outstanding debt. Some of the measures involved the Municipality participating in the National Treasury’s debt relief programme – however, the Municipality had to leave this programme due to non-compliance. There were also meetings with the Free State Provincial Treasury, as well as the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which ultimately came to nothing.

“Some of these measures started more than two years ago but have not yielded much success. It should not be necessary for Eskom to consider such drastic measures, bordering on human rights violations, before the national government finally decides to intervene in the crisis. Communities may have been in the dark about their municipalities’ debt burden to Eskom in the past, but the national government was not,” says Steffens.

AfriForum is not convinced that the municipalities will be able to properly implement all of the minister’s plans to pay off the electricity debt. In addition to the intervention agreement, which will ensure that municipalities keep money for electricity in a separate account to pay Eskom, the province has been promised among other things, smart meters that are tamper-proof and an annual amount of R4 billion to generate their own renewable energy.

“The fact remains that it will be the responsibility of the municipalities concerned to implement these plans. However, it has been repeatedly proven that these municipalities are being crippled by tender fraud and corruption,” says Steffens.

AfriForum argues that intervention is necessary in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution. According to this, a provincial executive authority can step in when municipalities, such as the Nala, Moqhaka, Masilonyana and Ngwathe Local Municipalities, fail to fulfil their duties. The municipalities must be placed under administration to ensure that the electricity debt is settled and to prevent prolonged power outages from infringing on residents’ basic human rights.

AfriForum has already conveyed its displeasure about the impending crisis in an official letter to Eskom and appeal to the municipalities to do everything possible to ensure that their towns power stays on.

The civil rights organisation remains committed to protecting the rights and well-being of communities. AfriForum also reserves the right to take further steps should Eskom proceed with the planned outages or if the municipalities fail to conclude and comply with the intervention agreement.