Zululand District to meet department on water debt

WHILE Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on water and sanitation has assured the public that water supply will not summarily be cut this month at 30 municipalities who defaulted on water payments, the Zululand District is seeking clarity on the R56-million it is said it owes the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

The Portfolio Committee on water and sanitation said threats to cut water supply to municipalities owing the department and various water boards billions of Rands, ‘is not a viable solution’.

‘Considering the needs of citizens, the Portfolio Committee resolved that alternative solutions must be found and reassured the public that water cuts will not be implemented from 8 December as announced,’ the committee said in a statement..

The DWS, National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs have been given 14 days to devise a viable plan to solve the longstanding challenge.

Last week Minister Nomvula Mokonyane revealed that the department is owed R10.7-billion in outstanding payments for water supplied, with R3,9-billion of that debt owed to the Water Trading Entity of the department and R6,8-billion owed to various water boards.

ALSO READ: R56-m water debt for Zululand District

She said 30 municipalities in the country have been given notices to pay their municipal debt by 8 December or have their bulk water supply terminated.

The Zululand District Municipality will meet with the department today (Monday) on the issue of its outstanding debt.

While acknowledging non-payment of raw water charges by DWS, the district municipality said it required some clarity on the amount of R56-million mentioned.

It said further details regarding ‘the said charges can only be revealed once the meeting between the two parties had been convened’.