With municipal debt to Eskom growing at the rate of almost R1bn a month, it was astonishing to learn at parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) last week that there is no-one in the cabinet who is seized with the problem. 

Local government & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says it is not within her powers and responsibilities to take it on. Her predecessor in the previous administration, Zweli Mkhize, had chaired an interministerial task team on Eskom debt. He made periodic appearances at parliament and mediated on the issue. But that committee fell away with the last administration and was not reconstituted...

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