POLOKWANE – Mankweng residents say they are surprised by the sentiments of Polokwane Mayor John Mpe during his recent State of the City address, where he stated that they will not receive proper services at all should they not start paying for these services- especially against the backdrop of residents waiting for the municipality to install smart meters as agreed.
Salga Limpopo, which is chaired by Mpe, has equally launched a campaign to encourage civic duty in the form of consistent payment of services by residents also out of concern that residents in areas such as Mankweng are negligent in paying their municipal accounts.
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Sanco Polokwane sub-region chairperson Andries Seabi says the municipality needs to meet residents and iron out these issues and stop discussing them via public platforms.
“During the tenure of the former mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng, residents were urged to pay a total of R292 monthly in the interim with the breakdown understanding that R200 would be for water, and R42 for refuse collection, while R50 would be for sewage with electricity installed into meters.”
He says they were surprised when the municipality “never came” to install smart meters in order for residents to start paying municipal fees proportionate to their consumption of municipal services.
The community leader says the municipality installed smart meters only in households that reported technical challenges with existing meters and even then it would be found that slips for different households reflect the same amount which is questionable, considering that residents consume services differently.
“To this day, we are waiting for the municipality to install smart meters. We don’t enjoy not paying for services. We even reached out to the new mayor to come meet us, and he is yet to respond to our messages”.
Salga Limpopo spokesperson, Itumeleng Kekana says they will soon visit Mankweng to encourage the payment of municipal services.
Polokwane municipal spokesperson Thipa Selala confirmed that the municipality has started a public participation process with various stakeholders in Mankweng to implement the council resolution on installing smart meters in the area.
“Engagement is ongoing. The municipality has agreed with the community to pay a flat rate of R292 pending the installation of smart meters in the area as per the memorandum signed. The billing was accordingly implemented as per council resolution. The smart meters are being procured.”
