The Democratic Alliance in iLembe has collected almost 2 000 petitions calling for a reduction in tariff increases in the 2023/24 budget.
Below are the submissions included in the petition to the municipality, as well as some other concerns.
• The increase on water and sanitation in the 2023/2024 draft budget is 9.5%, but one must take into account the CPI is at 5.3%.
• No measures were put in place to cushion the increase in the form of a rebate, especially on sanitation calculated on property value.
• The DA calls on council to develop a staggered policy on sanitation to assist the elderly 60 years and over and who are not indigent. For example, those with a combined income of R5 000 or less per month regardless of the value of the property
• We further call on council to consider a 25% sewer charge rebate for those aged 60-65, and 30% for those aged 65 and over.
• We would like council to review the indigent policy every two years instead of annually. It would eliminate unnecessary administration costs and delays in processing indigent applications before one qualifies for the standard benefits.
• Indigent households should always enjoy 10kl of free water every month even if they have been disconnected, which is not the case at present. Policy review is required to give effect to basic human rights. Furthermore, the threshold to qualify should be upped to R4 500 or less per month combined income.
• Inadequate allocation has been made for repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure, which dropped from R126-million last year to R91-million. This will pose challenges with regular water leaks, burnt out pumps, non-functioning telemetry systems at reservoirs, all of which contributed to more than R100-million in water losses.
• Employee related cost is R312-million whereas main internal revenue through water and sanitation is R373-million. It’s crystal clear the municipality is not sustainable and survives on grant funding from province and nationally. Only critical posts should be filled.
• The projection for new additional connections on revenue of R85-million is overstated and not realistic.
• Inability to collect monies for services provided is scary and a staggering R584-million is owed to council. More aggressive collection campaigns need to be put in place without fear or favour. Selective write-offs must be discouraged and should be fair to all deserving consumers. Almost half of the monies owed to council are regarded as doubtful debts.
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