It’s clear that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is not concerned about finding new ways of growing the country’s economy.

An energy policy researcher says that instead, the minister is sticking to taxing a struggling population that is effectively paying for services it does not receive.

The Institute for Economic Justice’s Brian Kamanzi was speaking as the national Treasury has told defaulting municipalities to cut the electricity to consumers who are not paying their bills.

But Kamanzi says that many of these municipalities are dealing with structural inequalities, which cannot be fixed with high tariffs and taxation.

His comments come as Eskom is owed R 57 billion from municipalities.

But it’s also not delivering on its service of providing electricity.

Many cash-strapped South Africans say that its unfair to charge them for electricity when most of the day is affected by load shedding.