Public protector recommends Tshwane metro write off resident’s R250k water bill

The Tshwane metro legal team was mulling over the public protector’s report recommending the writing off a resident’s R250 000 bill due to an undetected underground water leak.

The metro told Pretoria East Rekord it was not able to comment on the report, as it was still being studied by the internal legal team.

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane released her report last Friday on the investigation into allegations of irregular billing and improper prejudice by the metro, following a complaint by resident Gerda van Schalkwyk in December 2018.

According to Van Schalkwyk, she received a bill of R250 000 in October 2015, after not being correctly billed for almost eight months by the metro.

“She was billed water estimates for almost 200 days from 5 January 2015 to 22 July 2015. On 5 January 2015, her daily consumption was 4.74kl per day that escalated to 26.52kl per day with the reading on 22 July 2015,” according to the report.

“Her last statement was recorded on 2 July 2015, and on 2 October 2015 – 92 days – she received a statement of account, with actual water readings of an amount of R167 900.81.

“She ended up with a water bill of R258 796 on 14 December 2015. She lodged a dispute with the metro and received 50% relief which left her with a huge bill in excess of R130 000 to pay,” the public protector’s report said.

Van Schalkwyk then investigated and an underground leak was discovered and repaired in three weeks.

One of the main points of the investigations concentrated on a finding that the metro failed to issue Van Schalkwyk with accurate water consumption for almost eight months.

“My investigation further revealed that the metro officials recorded monthly water meter readings, but failed to provide accurate billing to the complainant.

“Had the metro issued accurate and regular bills to the complainant, she could have attended to the invisible and underground water leakage on her property and avoided the excessive billing,” Mkhwebane said in her report.

Mkhwebane’s report also found that Van Schalkwyk’s water meter was not situated on her property, but nearly 40m away from the property.

“The leak was on the complainant’s property but was underground which was not visible to the complainant. Due to the fact that the leak was underground, the complainant could not have known or realised that water was being lost.

“Had the metro provided regular and accurate accounts, the complainant could have picked up on the water loss and rectified it.”

The report said that the metro charged Van Schalkwyk interest on the account of about R30 000 and the leaked water was also charged at the highest level of the sliding scale tariff.

The public protector recommended that within one month of the date of the report, the metro manager must tender a written apology to the complainant for the metro’s failure to provide her with accurate and regular statements of her account.

Mkhwebane also directed the metro manager to prepare a submission setting out the reasons for the debt to the council, including a copy of her report.

“This should be for the council to consider writing off the outstanding debt in Ms Van Schalkwyk’s account in terms of the city’s credit and debt collection policy. The council must consider taking a resolution on the matter.”

The public protector’s office has also invited people who have the same issue with the council to send complaints to registration2@pprotect.org.za.

Public protector spokesperson Oupa Segalwe said that should the office receive an influx of complaints from residents, it would have to set up a “systematic investigation”.

This article was republished with permission from Caxton publication Pretoria East Rekord. Read the original article here.

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