Vhembe, Mopani residents to face water restrictions due to water debt
Over 30 municipalities countrywide owe the Department of Water and Sanitation money to the tune of R10,7 billion in unpaid water bills.
LIMPOPO – Water and Sanitation Minister, Nomvula Mokonyane, singled out 30 of the 183 municipalities whose debts were critically in the red.
Mokonyane said as of 8 December, defaulting municipalities will face restrictions in water supply until they settle their debts.
She said the department was planning to use the Water Act to effect water cuts in the affected municipalities because the department’s concerted efforts for payments always fell on deaf ears. She added R3,9 billion of the R10,7 billion was owed to the water trading entity and R6,8 billion to various water boards across the country. “Of the above debt, R7 billion has been outstanding for a period exceeding 120 days. This amounts to R3,5 billion owed to the water trading entity and R3,5 billion owed to the water boards,” she said. The minister said in light of the protracted payment squabble, her department issued invoices to over 183 municipalities.
She said 59 of the municipalities were slapped with summonses for failing to honour their payment obligations.
“In terms of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA), municipalities are required to pay for bulk water services within 60 days of receiving the relevant invoices.
Section 41 of the MFMA, further mandates the national treasury to monitor payments made by municipalities for this service.
“There have been instances where the department was forced to undertake legal action against defaulting municipalities and to date we issued 59 summonses with six judgements granted by the courts against Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, the OR Tambo district municipality and the Phumelela, Emfuleni and Nketwana local municipalities.
“Of these, it is only the OR Tambo district that is currently servicing the debt in line with the payment plan agreed to with the department.
“The rest are still failing to settle the debt and as such the debt is rising unabated,” she said.
Mokonyane, also known as ‘Mama Action’ further said section 59 of the Water Act allows the department to restrict or suspend the flow of water to the defaulting municipalities.
“We have also identified 30 municipalities whose individual debts exceed R50 million and are older than six months.
“Those are municipalities whose equitable share could be withheld until a payment arrangement is agreed to and a payment to cover the most recent invoice has been made.
“We will approach the National Treasury in this regard to give us a hearing in an effort to embark on the plan to withhold their payment for equitable share,” she said.
She said the department will also revoke the status of water authorities to municipalities which find it difficult to collect and generate revenue and render services.
Last year alone, municipalities in Limpopo owed the department R769 million with Mopani and Vhembe district leading the pack. The municipalities were summoned by Premier Stanley Mathabatha demanding for a payment plan that would take them out of the woods.
The Mopani district municipality owed the Lepelle Northern Water R400 million for unpaid bills. The municipality said a payment plan poised to continue supplying enough water to the end user was forged between Lepelle and the municipality.
Yesterday, however, Mokonyane said the current failure by municipalities to pay the debt owed to the department and the water boards affected the department negatively.
She threatened to cut the water supply to the affected municipalities or reduce the water pressure to the end- user. This, she said, was because the failure by municipalities to pay their debts negatively affected the future of effective water supply to the people of South Africa in general.
She said money collected by the water trading entity was critical for the building of new infrastructure, operations, maintenance of existing infrastructure, water quality and pollution control, and repayment of loans.
