Bold plans to solve Mthatha’s electricity woes

King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) municipal bosses are cooking up alternative energy plans to rid Mthatha of its electricity woes.

The plan involves the construction of a solar plant in Mqanduli and a solid waste energy generation plant in Qweqwe village along the N2 outside the city, as well as refurbishing water turbines along the Mthatha River near the Waterfall Park residential area.

“Once services are improved, reliable customers will find compelling justification to pay their dues and that will improve relations between the municipality and the people, and ultimately a healthy balance sheet and investment in future community development priorities.”

While KSD has come under fire from residents and the business community for its perceived inability to fix its ailing road and electricity networks, the Dispatch has also reported that the municipality was battling to collect millions of rand in rates owed by residents, businesses and even government departments.

KSD has also been slammed by some Mthatha residents who accuse it of overcharging them on tariffs for electricity purchases. As such, they have demanded to be allowed to buy power directly from Eskom.

Nelani’s document attributed the inability to collect enough revenue to a variety of factors, including illegal connections and electricity theft, low economic development activity, high infrastructure backlogs, low human resources capacity, an inaccurate debtors’ database, illegal land invasions on vacant land earmarked for development and ageing infrastructure.

It also pointed to load-shedding as a contributing factor to low revenue generation and loss of investment, particularly in Mthatha.

The situation was worsened by KSD owing Eskom R174m on an outstanding account with the interest at R16m.

This made it difficult for KSD to fund capital refurbishment projects from its internal funds.

Even though he was unable to give time frames on the  electricity plan, Mampoza said alternative energy sources would come in handy as KSD continued to grow.

He said this was because any money generated by KSD was put back into service delivery programmes to better the lives of citizens.

But Mthatha Ratepayers and Residents Association spokesperson Madyibi Ngxekana was not impressed, saying it was shocking that ratepayers had to learn about development programmes from the media.

“We don’t know why they fail to communicate with us through public participation. They should come and explain things to ratepayers instead of imposing on us.

“They are treating us like a landfill site,” he said. 

KSD mayor Nyaniso Nelani, during a virtual special council meeting on Monday, announced they had roped in the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to provide support on the local authority’s infrastructure development projects and in assisting in KSD’s revenue collection efforts.

The Dispatch has seen a copy of a proposal document, put together in April and believed to have been presented to DBSA.

Municipal spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza confirmed that the document was also presented to council by Nelani in which he argued that using the water turbines would help augment the erratic grid power supply from Eskom.

“KSD is not financially viable due to a limited revenue base and low levels of collection,” the report stated.

“The primary aim of the proposal is to request assistance to develop the capacity of KSD including revenue enhancement and eradicate infrastructure backlog. — DispatchLIVE