The Mayors and Municipal Managers of the Overberg District convened in Hermanus today, 20 February 2023, to discuss the current energy crisis and how best to close the electricity gap in a Special Combined Overberg District Co-ordinating and Technical Forum Meeting.

It was resolved that the efforts in all four Municipalities in the district (Cape Agulhas, Overstrand, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof) be co-ordinated through the Overberg District Co-ordinating Forum (DCF). This will allow for economies of scale and reduce the risk appetite as municipalities are currently inundated with service providers wanting to provide energy services.

The Mayors will serve on the energy council supported by the MM’s and the technical directors who will be responsible for the implementation of the proposed projects.

Also in attendance was the HOD for Local Government, Mr Graham Paulse, who shared that the WCG will avail R1 billion over the next three years to municipalities to address the energy crisis. He stated that municipalities need to ensure that all their plans are in place to be able to receive funding.

Overstrand Executive Mayor, Dr Annelie Rabie, who hosted the event, indicated that she will advertise shortly to seek appropriately skilled public volunteers to serve on an Overstrand energy council.

Mayor Rabie expressed concern about the fact that ESKOM does not have any plan to address the consistent outages in their supply areas in the Overstrand. There are no local maintenance teams, no local plant and equipment and no local presence of complaints desks. This needs to be addressed immediately.

She stated that this crisis must be addressed sooner rather than later and thanked her colleagues for attending and contributing.