ActionSA is pleading with eThekwini Municipality to write off debt that they erroneously created due to apparent negligence.
ACTIONSA PREMIER CANDIDATE EXPLAINS THE DEBT SAGA
Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal Premier Candidate, said they will move a motion to ensure that the eThekwini Municipality writes off the debt they created after making the blunder dating back to 2021 to credit households an extra 6 kilolitres of water per month, who should have not been allocated the extra amount due to the value of their property being over the R250 000 margin.
“Unfortunately, residents were not aware of the additional supply of water.”
Mncwango
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ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY ACCUSED OF IGNORING THE PROBLEM
“Despite municipal leadership and management at the Municipality knowing that the error was made by the Municipality due to their own negligence, residents are expected to pay the full amount once off or make arrangements to pay off the amount dating back to when the Municipality began supplying the extra number of kilolitres to residents, therefore, transferring the mess they had created to the people of eThekwini,” Mncwango argued.
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In addition to this, he claimed the Municipality has not conducted water metre readings for the past 4 months, relying solely on estimations, due to the absence of a water metre reading contract to independent companies.
“ActionSA has been religiously calling for the insourcing of skills that can be carried out internally by Municipalities and Government Departments to avoid such blunders. It is important to note that we will not compromise on our position in this matter once we get into government post the 2024 elections,” he said.
MNCWANGO BELIEVES THE METRO IS SINKING
“Noting that eThekwini Municipality recorded the highest tariff increases compared to other Metropolitan cities for the current financial year, with water seeing a significant increase of 14.9%, it is troubling that residents are now slapped with higher municipal bills and are obligated to pay off the amount,” Mncwango added.
“The difficult situation within this municipality is while they face the highest number of increases, eThekwini is one of the worst performing Metropolitan Municipalities in the country, with ridiculously unacceptable rates of service delivery, and a tourist attraction run to the gutters. As ActionSA, we will not allow such robbery to occur under our watch,” he concluded.
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