ON January 5, senior officials of eThekwini Municipality, led by City manager Musa Mbhele, met with the eThekwini Ratepayers’ Protest Movement (ERPM) to discuss the water-billing adjustment process.
The stakeholders’ engagement took place at the Durban City Hall and was aimed at finding amicable solutions to the issue of ratepayers being affected by the water-billing adjustment.
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The meeting was a result of the statement issued by the municipality outlining its intentions to correct the reading of 6 kilolitres of free basic water that was incorrectly applied to consumers whose properties were above the R250 000 threshold. The billing adjustment affects less than 10% of the taxpayers in the city.
Mbhele said to correct this technical error, the municipality is proposing to cap the amount payable by affected ratepayers to accommodate those who are not able to pay the full amount.
“This means we will ring-fence the debt and not allow any interest to accrue, and no services will be cut off due to the billing adjustment, provided acknowledgement of debt has been signed. We will further allow ratepayers to settle the debt over 36 months or until the full amount is paid. If the amount due is more than the average of approximately R6 000, we will standardise the debt, which means that those affected will pay an additional R180 per month instead of the full amount now, ” said Mbhele.
Mbhele once again apologised for the inconvenience caused by the technical error, adding that it was important to engage with stakeholders regarding the issue.
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“We always strive to deliver superior services to residents. However, it must be acknowledged that the municipality deals with over 550 000 bills every month, and such errors may occur,” added Mbhele.
According to Mbhele, as per the City’s policy, the City is allowed to backdate charges to correct such errors.
At the end of the engagement, both parties agreed to work together to develop a way forward, and it was also agreed that abnormal cases raised by ERPM, eg, where the amount due is more than the average of R6 000, or calculation errors, will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In addition, it was agreed that the ERPM will be consulted on the Indigent Policy as part of the budget consultations before the end of March.
The chairperson of ERPM, Asad Gaffer, said, “We appreciate the meeting to amicably discuss solutions, and we acknowledge the reasons why this must be done as the City needs revenue to function.”
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