With pay-day approaching, all residents in eMalahleni are waiting eagerly for their correct accounts to make payments. Residents have not received ‘proper’ water and light accounts since the end of June. It has been three months of fighting the same battle.
Published in the WITBANK NEWS on Friday, August 4 Mr Kingdom Mabuza, municipal spokesperson stated that due to the new budget reforms introduced by the National Treasury for compliance with legislative regulations ‘municipal Standard Charts of Accounts’ (mSCOA), it was deemed necessary for our municipality to change the financial system.
But three months down the line and the residents still do not know what to pay and what not, as no correct accounts have been sent out. In September another article was published stating that the ‘monster with its teething problems’ will be fixed soon. The municipality explained that no accounts were received at the end of July, because after the new system was implemented the accounts were a disaster.
At this point in time, the EasyPay method was the main headache when the new system could not interpret the information as put into the system previously.
On August 24 accounts were received for the first time since the end of June. These accounts sent residents flying through the roof with anger, as no previous payments reflect and amounts to be paid were sky high.
Afterwards, most accounts were received every month, with a lot to complain about. It is three months later and there are still residents with incorrect accounts.
Residents have been urged to pay their accounts all this time, even if they just paid an estimate or the amount reflecting on the account.
One of our many upset residents said that he has not received an account since January. With help from the council when he went there, he received accounts for July and August.
“What are we paying for? There is no price for units for electricity consumption and no price for water per kilo litre. It shows no indication of meters that were read. Do they even read our meters? It gives us a cost to pay, but no supporting evidence for what we used,” he said.
He added that we as residents are entitled to know what we are paying per unit and what we used last month.
“The meter readings are supposed to reflect on our accounts. Water and electricity. The price of each kilo litre and each unit used should also appear. We have been going on like this for too long. The municipality is making life unbearable for everyone and the residents are going to take the law into their own hands. The problem is getting bigger and the general public can not even reach them on their so-called ‘new telephone lines’. Something drastic needs to be done.”
Mabuza said on Tuesday, October 24 that the account system is being sorted out and that everything will be in order soon.
“We urge the public to please still pay their accounts and to bear with us, while the problem is being solved.”
Another resident queried the new prepaid meters currently being installed.
“The municipality lives like Robin Hood. Steal from the rich to give to the poor. Around town, prepaid meters are being put in left right and centre but what about the townships? Are they getting these meters?”
This issue was discussed with the municipality and Mabuza also said that the ward councillors of the townships are busy convincing the residents that the new meters are a good idea to install and that it will be beneficiary.
“Our workers get disrupted in the townships which makes our job very difficult. They are getting attacked and dealing with numerous threats,” Mabuza also added.
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