A South African municipality is threatening to
plunge the capital city of Pretoria into darkness
over huge unpaid utility bills, it's reported.
The city of Tshwane supplies water and electricity
to neighbouring regions, government departments,
businesses and embassies, but it says it's owed
R6.6bn ($583m; £368m) in unpaid bills. Now the
city says it will start cutting off customers if the
debts aren't settled, and the Times Live website
reports it could happen within 48 hours.
Pretoria's schools have already felt the brunt of
the plans, with 38 having their electricity cut so
far. "The schools will remain disconnected until
all arrears have been settled," Tshwane city
manager Jason Ngubeni says. "It has been a
painful process for us to embark on this exercise
but we could not allow ourselves to fall behind in
terms of provision of services."
Three neighbouring municipalities, home to nearly
one million people, are also apparently in arrears
and at risk of losing services. But the news may
come as a shock to one of the affected regions,
Thembisile Hani, where a spokeswoman tells
Business Day Live they've paid their bills. "We
make sure that we are on top of our water
budget... the information from our supply chain
management says we are not owing them any
money," she says.
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