Astral argued that it was a paid-up consumer of electricity, and should not be penalised for corruption prevalent in local municipalities
Astral Foods said on Wednesday it had secured an interdict preventing Eskom from cutting off electricity to the Randwest local municipality in Gauteng.
Eskom had informed the public of its right to disconnect power in October, due to nonpayment for electricity by the municipality. But SA's largest poultry producer had argued that it was a paid-up consumer of electricity, and should not be penalised for inefficiencies and corruption prevalent in local municipalities, with Johannesburg high court judge Gerry Nel ruling in the company's favour.
“The continued dependency on Eskom, who have a monopoly over the supply of electricity, remains unhealthy and their repeated threats to interrupt supply has a profound effect on businesses such as Astral,” CEO of Astral Chris Schutte in a statement. Astral said the disconnection of electricity would have caused catastrophic damage to its Meadow Feeds business, as well as other businesses that operated in the municipality.
Electricity disruption is not the only threat to the company. The company's profit halved in its year to end-September, partially due to a water crisis that hit production at its Standerton facility in Mpumalanga.
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