Businesses in the agricultural town of Lichtenburg in the North West are down on their knees following serious electricity problems. They have had to survive with only one transformer for the past 21 days with Eskom refusing to switch them back on before a substantial payment has been made. 
Eskom is owed an estimated R1 billion by the struggling municipality of Ditsobotla in the Northwest, which has been struggling to pay its utility bills. Since the beginning of this month (August 2), a sunflower oil crushing plant, has been unable to operate due to a widespread power outage. For more on this issue we spoke to Provincial Executive representative Muthotho Sigidi overseeing the state of affairs in Ditsobotla Municipality.