Are councillors exempted from paying consumer accounts in Lekwa?

Lekwa Municipality has announced a debt relief scheme for all consumers in Standerton.

According to Delani Louis Thabethe, executive mayor, all categories of customers qualify for a 50/50 incentive subject to the customer paying 50% of the amount on the outstanding debt.

To qualify, therefore, a customer must pay 50% to have the other 50% written off.

Thabethe went on to say that up-to-date-payment of the current account is mandatory.

Conditions include a timetable for payment arrangements.

The period began in January and will end in June this year for monthly repayment arrangements to be made at Lekwa.

Defaulting on payment arrangements will not bode well for locals.

“The municipality reserves the right to terminate the agreement and disconnect services immediately,” was shared on a WhatsApp group the past week.

The culture of non-payment for services in alive and well in Standerton. The council of Lekwa is no exception.

The Standerton Advertiser has a screenshot of arrears consumer accounts in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act as of June 30 last year.

The document tables consumer arrears for less than 90 days and more than 90 days.

According to the document, the figures stand at more than R1.5m made up of R97 618 and R1 402 770.
Some of the councillors on this list owed the municipality more than R100 000 in arrears each. The lowest amount is just less than R11 000.

The mayor himself was the person with the highest outstanding debt. His outstanding amount at that time was R257 848.

Thabethe was quoted in the past as saying that non-payment for services affects Lekwa to a large extent.

An email was sent to Lubabalo Majenge, communications manager at Lekwa as far back as January 4, enquiring whether councillors are exempted from consumer accounts, whether their municipal accounts are currently up to date and whether a council resolution has been taken in this regard.

A second email was sent on January 11, but a comment from the mayor was requested as well.

Majenge replied the same day, apologising for not responding to the prior request, saying it was difficult to get information as some officials were still on leave.

He said, however, that councillors are expected to pay their accounts as directed by legislation.

Majenge added that a thorough verification has to be done. The veracity of the accounts could not be proven beyond doubt at the time of going to press, nor did Majenge send feedback on the enquiries.

The Standerton Advertiser endeavoured to contact the representatives from the different political parties, with mixed results.

Both the DA and Freedom Front Plus referred the newspaper to their respective councillors, while the EFF was forthcoming in the enquiry.

Wilma Venter of the FFP identified a glaring error on her account, saying she has statements to prove she is in credit.

The ANC chose not to reply to the WhatsApp message.