By Nilutpal Timsina.
South Africa’s biggest city Johannesburg has fully settled an overdue debt of 5.25 billion rand ($328 million) owed to state-owned power utility Eskom, the electricity department said on Friday.
The settlement follows a government-led mediation process to resolve a long-running billing dispute that had threatened to see electricity supply throttled to the economic hub of Africa’s biggest economy.
The move comes ahead of municipal elections on November 4, when Johannesburg is expected to be among the most-hotly contested battlegrounds.
The city is currently governed by a coalition led by the African National Congress (ANC), the former liberation movement that also leads the coalition that governs on a national level.
The ANC is under pressure to improve service delivery and turn around struggling municipalities after seeing its share of the vote slide at successive elections.
Business leaders have pledged to help improve the state of Johannesburg’s ailing finances and dilapidated infrastructure, saying the city’s condition risks undermining efforts to boost economic growth.