Out of 30 homes in ward 13 of Ndwedwe municipality, only two were found to be paying for water services.
This was discovered during the Ilembe district municipality revenue enhancement #Thuma Mina campaign in Ndwedwe last Thursday.
The initiative is part of a provincial department of cooperative governance revenue enhancement campaign themed “Pay Your Levies – Nothing for Mahhala.”
The aim is to encourage residents to pay their dues for municipal services which are a crucial part of municipal revenue.
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Bypassed electricity meters, illegal water connections, water meters running with no taps and non-payment of water bills were just some of the problems picked up during the door-to-door visits.
“My delegation visited about 30 homes today and only two were paying for services.
“The rest were either illegally connected, by-passing meters or just not paying for services altogether.
“These are the things that are crippling the municipality because there is money that should be coming in for these services and it is not, yet we are expected to carry out our mandate as a district municipality,” said the district municipal manager Geoff Kumalo.
A number of homes visited had their water disconnected as a result.
Speaker of the council, Lucky Makhathini, said residents were encouraged to visit the municipal offices to register for connection or register for indigent support.
“We understand that some of our residents cannot afford the services and we have support for the disadvantaged but due processes have to be followed.
“As things stand, people who are illegally connected are essentially stealing from the government and we cannot have that,” he said.
The deputy mayor of Ilembe Cllr Dolly Shandu said the culture of non-payment in the district had to stop in order for the government to function.
“One can see clearly that many of the homes we visited can afford to pay but they just choose not to. We urge those who can afford to pay for services to do so,” said Shandu.
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