Just a day after Eskom threatened to cut off power to Johannesburg over the staggering R6.8 billion, the City Mayor Dada Morero took the podium for his State of the City Address under a lingering dark cloud of electricity crisis.
Dressed in his suit and tie, Morero, who said the elephant in the room could not be ignored, finds himself rushing to keep the lights on. He revealed that there have been requests for proposals issued to approved development finance institutions.
This, he said, has resulted in agreement in principle with KFW, a German bank, to provide a loan of 200 million euros to fund energy-related projects.
According to Morero, this is well aligned with City Power’s project pipeline and infrastructure funding requirements.
“The City as the borrower and City Power as an Execution Agent are currently finalising a contract with KFW with the expectation that KFW will be disbursing the agreed loan amount before the end of June 2026.”
The utility has given the city until 8 July to settle arrears of over R5-billion. A previous threat was avoided after a legal battle and intervention from national government.
Eskom now says the city is violating that settlement agreement by not paying. The latest threat puts areas such as Sandton, Fourways, Soweto, Orange Farm, and Ivory Park at risk.
Streetlights in parts of these areas have already been cut due to a separate R4-million debt.
Morero said City Power does have a turnaround plan that addresses this challenge.
Part of that solution is to implement the National Treasury and the Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs guidance to reform and strengthen Municipal Trading Entities.
“This reform agenda will assist the City to improve governance, financial sustainability, operational efficiency and accountability within entities that have historically operated under significant fiscal and infrastructure pressure,”