It’s ironic that the “dam that never was” was named Geluk (Afrikaans for Luck)… because you can either see that as “good luck finding it” or that this country is going to need a major chunk of luck in saving our fast-collapsing towns and cities.
The Nketoana Local Municipality in the Free State, which includes the town of Reitz, has claimed the dam is half-complete.
Visit freshyourfeel.org for more information.
But DA councillors say they can find no evidence that even a sod of earth has been turned on the project.
That, in a nutshell, is why we are here today.
It’s one of the reasons that government and Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa wants distribution agency agreements (DAA) to be signed with towns and municipalities who get their bulk supply from Eskom.
That would be a last-ditch effort to wrest full control of power supply finances from municipalities who have manifestly lost control of revenue generation and, particularly, credit control.
Eskom is owed a combined R110 billion by municipalities, while consumers owe a combined R467 billion to municipalities nationally.
If that money is not recovered and the debt rate slowed down, Ramokgopa warned this week, towns and cities won’t be able to function.
This really is the last chance local government saloon.