Merafong owes Rand Water more than R700 million
Despite Rand Water supplying the Merafong City Local Municipality with excellent drinking water, Merafong does not pay for most of it.
Rand Water highlighted this fact again this week. It provided a list of its worst debtors with long-overdue accounts, of which Merafong owes the most money.
According to Rand Water, Merafong owes them a total of R763, 737,343.74, of which R721,086,096.13 is outstanding from previous months and years.
Our neighbouring Rand West Local Municipality, which is the second-worst offender, owes R483,336,982.72 and the Victor Khanye Local Municipality in the Delmas area in Mpumalanga, third, with an outstanding account of R356,668,518.06.
“This situation significantly destabilises Rand Water’s financial position and poses a direct threat to its medium and long-term sustainability. Rand Water operates without any form of allocation from the national fiscus, and thus relies solely on funds collected from its customers, primarily municipalities. To date, municipalities owe Rand Water a cumulative amount of R4,1 billion, with R2,9 billion relating to Gauteng municipalities, R1,2 billion from Mpumalanga municipalities, and at least R58 million from Free State municipalities,” said Rand Water’s media relations manager, Mr Justice Mogale.
According to Rand Water, the magnitude of the outstanding debt from municipalities has reached a critical level and requires urgent attention. As a result, Rand Water has invoked the provisions of Section 41(1) of Intergovernmental Framework Act (IRFA) and declared an intergovernmental financial dispute. It now seeks the intervention of National Treasury and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Rand Water has also asked for the Minister of Finance and National Treasury’s assistance in curbing this escalating debt. It wants them to withhold the defaulting municipalities’ December 2023 equitable shares payout until they reach an amicable agreement with a down payment to maintain cash inflow that will enable Rand Water to meet its short- and medium-term obligations.
Neither Rand Water nor the Merafong City Local Municipality answered questions on whether it might curb the water supply to our area as a result of the non-payment.
