Johannesburg has promised to pay about $145 million (R2.36 billion) to Eskom and Rand Water within days, despite not currently having access to the money it needs to honour the commitment.
Executive Mayor Dada Morero said Eskom would receive approximately $86 million (R1.4 billion), while Rand Water would be paid about $59 million (R960 million) by mid-July.
However, the payments depend on South Africa’s National Treasury releasing $221 million (R3.6 billion) in equitable-share funding that it withheld over persistent breaches of municipal finance rules.
The arrangement leaves Africa’s richest city effectively promising creditors money that remains frozen by the national government.
“As the equitable share will then come into the city, we confirm that we will be paying Eskom and Rand Water,” Morero told reporters on Wednesday.
