Resident’s water cut off
RIVERCLUB - RIVERCLUB resident David Shackleton has expressed outrage after Johannesburg Water cut off his water and placed a lock around his metre after they failed to amend backdated bills from January.
In a previous Sandton Chronicle article published in January, Shackleton said he received a backdated bill for over R50 000 for the month of November last year following construction and the replacing of the water meter in front of his house. After numerous correspondences with Johannesburg Water, which led to no change, he received a pre-termination notice on 9 January which threatened to shut off his water if the bill was not paid.
Following this incident, Johannesburg Water spokesperson Puleng Mopeli said the agency would amend the issues with Shackleton’s account, but the issue was not attended to, with Shackleton’s account standing at over R100 000.
Shackleton soon found himself without water as his correspondence with Johannesburg Water regarding his billing issues led to his water being cut off on 7 April and a steel lock being placed around the meter.
He said there has been no water on his property and he has been forced to bring water from his local gym.
After Sandton Chronicle requested a comment from Johannesburg Water, Shackleton’s water was turned on, but his billing queries were not attended to.
Ward 106 councillor Stephen Moore said the billing issues were a problem among all residents in Johannesburg and said the issues have not been resolved properly. He added that the problem is that the various agencies expect residents to pay the incorrect bills and promise to amend the problem at a later stage which does not work.
He added that Johannesburg Water does not have any right to shut off residents’ water completely.
As of yet, Johannesburg Water has not released an official statement with regards to Shackleton’s issues.
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