Cape Town - The Polokwane Municipality in Limpopo has cut off power supply to government departments which owe them over R250 million in unpaid utilities.
According to the SABC News, the Polokwane Municipality’s Portfolio Committee on Finance visited several provincial government departments, where members of the committee cut off the electricity supply directly from the transformers feeding the affected buildings.
It is said that the affected provincial government departments breached their contractual duties by failing to pay their electricity bills.
A staggering R250m in debt is reportedly held by more than 10 departments and some state-owned companies, and the municipality has made a daring move to try and recoup some of the financial losses.
The government entities which had their power supply abruptly cut off for failing to pay up the electricity services include,departments of Public Works, Education, Health, Agriculture and Land Reform, Sports, Arts and Culture, Rural Development, LIMDEV and also Great North Transport.
Polokwane Municipality spokesperson, Thipa Selala said the departments combined with the government entities are owing the municipality around R252m.
“So we have been negotiating with the departments since November last year. Some have not made any commitments and some have, but they have all defaulted on their payments,” he told the SABC.
Selala warned that businesses in the city that have also fallen behind on payments will be shut off.
“It is not only departments we are targeting, even individuals and businesses that owe the municipality a lot of money.
“We are also going to switch off those individuals, even businesses that are owing the municipality a lot of money. We are targeting at least the top 20 now that are owing the municipality,” Selala added.
Meanwhile, Limpopo government spokesperson Ndavhe Ramakuela says the provincial government is aware that failure to comply will result in dark days ahead.
“We have taken note of what the Polokwane municipality is doing in exercising its credit control policy by switching off departments or provincial departments and state-owned entities that may be owing them taxes and services that are due to them.
“We have an inter-governmental forum chaired by the office of the premier and in that forum, we encourage departments to ensure that their accounts are up to date. In this regard, we will still continue to review how much is being owed,” Ramakuela added.
IOL