Premier Lazarus Mokgosi hosts engagement session with Council of Ditsobotla Municipality

Lichtenburg - North West Provincial Government led by Premier Lazarus Mokgosi is to host an engagement session with the Council of Ditsobotla Local Municipality in Lichtenburg to propose that the struggling municipality hands over the rights to electricity to Eskom under the guidance of Ministry of Electricity.

This was the focus of the special Council meeting held yesterday, in which Premier Mokgosi who was invited by Council and
accompanied by MEC for Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs, Oageng Molapisi made the suggestion.

The purpose of the visit was to engage directly with councillors and discuss the challenges hindering provision of services and in particular electricity supply.

In the meeting, Premier Mokgosi persuaded the Council to agree and allow Eskom to take over the electricity supply function to allow for an uninterrupted supply of electricity for all areas in Ditsobotla.

Premier Mokgosi maintains this intervention will bring about the much-needed stability in the supply of electricity as other interventions brought by the municipality did not yield any desired results.

“The municipality is facing different challenges and at the centre is our people whom we must serve. The municipality does not have the financial capacity and the necessary skills to handle provision of electricity.

"One of the options we raised was to have Eskom taking the total operation of electricity so that we offload what the municipality seems to have as a challenge” remarked Premier Mokgosi.

Councillors raised concerns regarding revenue collection through supply of electricity and whether this won't impact on the finances of the municipality.

In addressing this concern, the parties resolved to have an engagement session with all relevant stakeholders to discuss the modalities of the proposed intervention measures by Premier Mokgosi.

“We are exploring all avenues to stabilize this municipality. So we must work together in ensuring that we achieve this objective" said the Premier Mokgosi.

The engagement session which is expected to be held soon, will be led by Premier Mokgosi and amongst others be attended by MEC for CoGHSTA, Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality, Ministry of Electricity as well as Department of Water and Sanitation.

In the meeting a report on the Section 154 intervention in the municipality will be tabled and questions regarding blocked and other ongoing projects will be addressed.

Enquiries
Sello Tatai
Spokesperson to the Premier
North West Provincial Government
Cell: 082 450 7842
E-mail:  SITatai@nwpg.gov.za

Brian Setswambung
Provincial Head of Communication
Office of the Premier
North West Provincial Government
Cell: 076 012 4501
E-mail:  BSetswambung@nwpg.gov.za

 #GovZAUpdates

#ServiceDeliveryZA