Eskom latest: Municipal debt relief; chairman Makwana resigns

South Africa’s National Treasury extended the closing date for municipalities to apply for relief on debts owed to the state power utility until the end of October.

The government’s R254 billion debt relief package for Eskom envisages the utility writing off municipal arrears under strict conditions and with the guidance of the Treasury. Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said on Monday towns and cities owe the power company at least R64 billion and the amount is growing.

As of September 22, only 37 municipalities have applied to be part of the Eskom Municipal Debt Relief Support Programme, the Treasury said in a statement on Tuesday. Of those, 28 have been approved and nine are still being assessed. There are 25 additional applications awaiting approval by the respective provincial Treasuries, the National Treasury said.

Makwana quits as Eskom chairman; Nyati appointed to the role (October 9, 7:05 p.m.)

Mpho Makwana will step down as chairman at Eskom’s annual general meeting at the end of the month.

He will be replaced by former MTN executive and ex-chief executive officer of Altron, Mteto Nyati, Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said in a statement on Monday.

Stage two power cuts during afternoons and evenings (October 8, 12:09 p.m.)

Eskom will implement so-called stage two load shedding — in which it removes 2 000 megawatts from the national grid — from 4 p.m. until 5 a.m. daily, until further notice, the utility said in a statement. There will be no power cuts from 5 a.m. until 4 p.m.

South Africa has been subjected to outages since 2008 because Eskom is unable to meet demand for power from its old and poorly maintained plants.