Emerging farmers in Makana want the municipality to fork out thousands of rands for their mounting electricity arrears.
Emerging farmers in Makana want the municipality to fork out thousands of rands for their mounting electricity arrears.
The proposal was met with alarm at the Economic Development, Tourism and Heritage Portfolio Committee meeting earlier this month, where the Local and Economic Development (LED) directorate presented it as part of their strategy to facilitate the development of the agricultural sector in Makana Municipality.
LED Director, Riana Meiring, said they had been inundated with requests from emerging farmers complaining that the Eskom rates were too high and that the supplier did not provide prepaid meters in their areas. The total amount needed to get the farmers' bills up to date – and, in some cases, to get their supply reconnected – was R37 343.32.
A report on the progress of the directorate's agricultural support programme stated that "in many instances these farmers were assisted by the Department of Agriculture with grant funding, but the operational costs for the projects were never considered".
Councillor Michael Whisson pointed to the carting of water as an instance in which a culture of dependency had been created. He said farming communities relied on the municipality to bring them water, instead of harvesting water themselves, for example, using roof gutters to channel water from roofs into tanks.
Given this example of how what had started as an emergency measure had become routine practice, Whisson suggested that paying the electricity arrears would be creating a "very dangerous precedent". Councillor Les Reynolds pointed out that Makana ratepayers would ultimately have to foot the bill, and suggested the farmers should rather negotiate with Eskom to find a solution.
Councillor Thandeka Veliti said it was important for the municipality to ensure no one was singled out for preferential treatment and suggested a critical analysis would reveal whether it was possible for the institution to engage in such a project. "We should not open a can of worms," she cautioned.
Head of the portfolio committee, Nombulelo Masoma, said the farmers needed to apply to qualify as indigents. A proper report needed to be done, to get assurance that the municipality would not end up carry the burden of these farms in the long term.
