![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/105/2018/03/Refiwe-Mtsweni-Custom.jpg)
The loud cheers of people applauding the newly elected premier when she announced that service debt will be erased are replaced with moans and groans.
Residents who went to the municipality to find out if their service debt has been erased had a rude awakening.
The then acting Premier of Mpumalanga, Ms Refilwe Mtsweni made a huge slip-up on March 16 in her closing address during the ‘Taking the Legislature to the People’ event at SY Mthimunye Stadium in Ackerville.
She said households that owe R50 000 or less in services will have their debt erased.
She then called on residents to pay their service accounts monthly in order to keep the municipality fully functional.
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The municipality is frantically busy doing damage control after this blunder.
Municipal spokesperson Mr Kingdom Mabuza said residents and business are encouraged to take advantage of the incentive scheme which was reintroduced late last year.
The scheme which, among other things, offers a maximum of R50 000 discount where the calculated discount is above the R50 000, will last until June.
The incentive scheme exclusively applies to residents and business.
“Few households and business people have taken advantage of this incentive,” Mabuza said.
The municipality has been running with an incentive scheme between January and end of March last year which yielded positive results ,with 1 037 people settling their accounts .
On September 15 the second scheme was initiated.
Read the full article in the latest WITBANK NEWS, out now!