Deputy President Paul Mashatile has pointed a firm finger at municipal failures and criminal syndicates as key drivers of South Africa’s escalating electricity crisis, revealing that debt owed to Eskom has ballooned to a staggering R102 billion.
Speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday, Mashatile argued that if municipalities did a better job of formally connecting households to the grid, it would dismantle the criminal networks that prey on the poor through illegal connections.
“The izinyokanyoka (a term for illegal electricians) come in. They connect them, they charge them, but that money won’t go to Eskom,” Mashatile stated, asserting that those behind illegal connections are ultimately “stealing from communities.”
The Deputy President projected a dire future without urgent intervention, citing Eskom’s estimate that municipal debt could skyrocket to R300 billion by 2030. He identified the current model—where municipalities supply electricity, hoping for later payment—as unsustainable, keeping the country trapped in a “debt spiral.”
Prepaid Meters and Policy Reform
As a critical part of the solution, Mashatile advocated for the wider adoption of prepaid meters. While acknowledging public resistance, he insisted this would enable better debt management and allow consumers to only pay for what they can afford.
“People must access as they can afford. Then we make it affordable for the indigent, in line with the policy,” he explained.
However, he also highlighted a flaw in the existing support system, noting that municipal indigent policies—designed to assist the poorest households—are “known to have been abused in the past.” This call for a “proper indigent policy” underscores the need for both technical and administrative reforms to tackle the crisis holistically.
The statement frames the issue of illegal connections not just as a matter of service delivery, but as a fight against organised crime that is capitalising on state failure, directly linking it to the financial collapse of the national power utility.
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