Mamelodi residents are at their wit’s end as the Tshwane metro “continues to send them abnormally high electricity and water bills”.
President of the Mamelodi Concerned Residents’ Association Oupa Mtshweni claimed that he himself was a recent unfortunate victim of the “abnormally high consumption bill” from the municipality.
Mtshweni said his electricity and water bill totalled R145 729 for October only.
He said in 2017, his electricity and water bill was R275 176 then increased to R333 075 but somehow has decreased to R145 729.
According to him, Tshwane had made arrangements for him to pay R4 459.55 for October.
“I have never been to Tshwane municipal offices or signed any documents to make payment arrangements or decrease the amount, but it was decreased and an arrangement was already made for me.
Who made the arrangements?”
Mtshweni said he had been complaining for years about the billing system or estimates Tshwane makes.
He said the metro should scrap all these abnormal bills “so we can start all over again”.
“Many senior citizens are owing more than or close to R1-million in municipal service delivery fees and are forced to arrange to pay this debt with their social grant money,” said Mtshweni.
He said fellow citizens are being robbed daily, together with businessmen who are also struggling to get their title deeds.
Mtshweni said earlier this year a resident in Ikageng, Mamelodi East, who had been without water for almost four years, was billed R3 400 for water.
Walter Mabaso, claimed he can’t recall the last time he saw a single drop of water from his tap, yet Tshwane metro has billed him R3 400 for June this year.
“We had been without water for four years, and every day it’s a struggle to get water,” said Mabaso adding that the metro was not taking residents of Mamelodi seriously.
“We are running up and down almost every day searching for water.
“My water tap is dry, and it’s been years we have been complaining to the Tshwane metro about a shortage of water in the area.”
He claimed the water problems in the area started years ago with low water pressure before there was no water at all.
He said the metro then sent water tankers to the area as an interim solution “but this had problems of its own”.
“We have to walk long distances to collect water from the tankers because they only deliver to Ikageng Hall, near the informal settlement,” said Mabaso.
Other residents also claimed their taps had been dry for almost three years but still they received municipal bills.
Among them, Mkhulu Msiza of Ext 4 said he had not received his bill in the past three months.
“We are ratepayers, so we don’t deserve to walk such distances to get water.”
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Msiza said he is waiting for his bill and prayed it did not include a portion for water usage because his tap has been dry for years.
“We cannot continue to live like this. At least, the tankers should deliver to each and every street in the Mamelodi areas experiencing a water shortage,” said Msiza.
Mtshweni added earlier this year, thousands of residents from Mamelodi and other regions of Tshwane marched to Tshwane House to address high municipal bills, scrapping of bills, water shortages, and other burning service delivery issues.
He said for years they have been fighting for the metro to cancel all high bills “we even lost count of the many memoranda handed over to the metro yet to date, are still waiting for a response”.
Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the meter readings are obtained from the property and the accountholder is billed monthly.
He said the decreases decreases noted were due to debt write-offs.
“There is no payment arrangement captured on the system,” said Mashigo.
However, the complainant’s account is correct and billed on actual readings.
“The account is due and payable; since 2005, the complainant has only paid R6 461 on his account. In fact, according to our records, he last paid his account on July 2 2013.”
He said the city only estimates usage in instances where it is unable to obtain actual readings “commonly due to intimidation and gate-closures” and that this is permitted by the bylaw.
“A specific account number is required to ascertain whether there has been a complaint about abnormal billing and estimations since the city has more than 700 000 customers,” he said.
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