REFILWE MEKOA
The Free State Health Department says it will never allow three hospitals to face a power cut tomorrow.
Spokesperson Mondli Mvambi was responding to allegations that Mofumahadi Manapo Hospital, Elizabeth Ross Hospital and Thebe District Hospital will be without electricity tomorrow due to alleged non-payment. Mvambi says they are making sure that tomorrow’s alleged planned power cut never happens.
“We are working with Eskom and other governmental departments to deal with the matter. This is my final comment on the matter, it will never happen,” says Mvambi.
The debt owed by the three hospitals based at the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality to an electricity company, Rural Free State, is believed to be more than R3 million.
It has been reported that the company signed a 25-year contract to supply electricity to the municipality. Media speculations surfaced that the agreement was reached with former Mayor Sarah Moleleki and Municipal Manager Madala Ntombela before they distanced themselves from the contract and resigned last September.
Maluti-a-Phofung Mayor, Vusi Tshabalala, also assured the community that there is no need to panic. “The matter between us and the company, it is still being dealt with at the high court, but maybe just to inform the community of South Africa. Nobody will ever have any right to cut the electricity on behalf of the municipality and we will ensure that it never happens,” says Tshabalala.
