Why Local Government Failure Costs Ratepayers
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As South Africans head to the polls for local government elections, a massive financial time bomb continues to shadow municipalities across the country: overdue municipal debt to Eskom has officially ballooned to R122.5 billion, with over 110 local councils owing more than R1 million each.
On KayBiz, energy infrastructure and development finance expert Ruse Moleshe unpacks the structural realities behind this mounting debt spiral. We explore why Treasury debt relief mechanisms are failing to curb defaults, how non-paying municipalities inflate bulk tariffs for compliant ratepayers, and whether taking electricity distribution entirely out of the hands of local politicians is the only viable path to saving municipal balance sheets
On KayBiz, energy infrastructure and development finance expert Ruse Moleshe unpacks the structural realities behind this mounting debt spiral. We explore why Treasury debt relief mechanisms are failing to curb defaults, how non-paying municipalities inflate bulk tariffs for compliant ratepayers, and whether taking electricity distribution entirely out of the hands of local politicians is the only viable path to saving municipal balance sheets
