Preventing electricity cuts for paying end users

The facts of this case originate from serious mismanagement at the Emalahleni Local Municipality (Witbank) and the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (Lydenburg), as well as the inability of the National Treasury to intervene. The bankrupt municipalities could not meet their debtor obligations towards Eskom, and Eskom decided to terminate the electricity supply to the municipalities. If Eskom were allowed to continue unabated, it would pave the way for paying end-users to suffer nationwide damage due to state decay and disputes between state organs. Sakeliga joined as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) and over the course of two years developed legal arguments that the High Court in Pretoria described as "novel" and "decisive." The foremost of these arguments include provisions on intergovernmental dispute resolution; the necessity of rational debt collection methods; and the status of businesses and the public as the real end-users of electricity, rather than the municipalities as Eskom had claimed. • The judgment provides electricity security at the local level, as it prevents Eskom from cutting off end-users' power as a tactic to recover municipal debt. • The judgment reduces the impact of state decay, as it obligates all state institutions – not just Eskom and municipalities – to follow intergovernmental dispute resolution rather than harming paying private third parties.