A high-level meeting between the Phoenix Working Committee (PWC) and the eThekwini Municipality to discuss numerous critical matters that remain unresolved in the community, took place in Phoenix last Thursday.
The Municipality delegation was led by the Mayor’s office and included department heads from Electricity, Housing, Water and Sanitation, and Revenue Services. The Phoenix delegation was led by Sham Maharaj from the PWC and included representatives from Woodview Ratepayers Association, Phoenix Child Welfare, Phoenix Ubuntu Forum, Phoenix Youth Centre, representatives of Palmview, and other concerned NGOs.
Matters of concern included the high municipal bills being received by thousands of eThekwini ratepayers, many of whom are grant recipients and unemployed people. During the meeting, it was heard that residents receiving huge bills were being forced to make arrangements with the Municipality even though they could not afford the installments. When residents fell back into arrears the Municipality would cut off their electricity supply, resulting in thousands of residents living in the dark.
Sham Maharaj said, “As the PWC we have done some research around the issue of high Municipal bills and we made some suggestions and proposals which we put to the Municipality: Some of the issues related to the high municipal bills include the high cost of water which has become extremely high and unaffordable to all citizen of eThekwini. Our research indicates that the eThekwini Municipality loses around 50% of its water through water leaks arising out of ailing water infrastructure and theft of water through illegal water connections which is increasing all the time. This results in honest ratepayers having to pay for higher water costs to cover the loss suffered by the Municipality and to “subsidise “ those who have illegal water connections with little or no sanction from the Municipality.”
He said, “In addition, allegations of the emergence of a “water mafia” in eThekwini which is suspected of massive sabotage of water infrastructure including water reservoirs recently made a bad situation even worse. Another issue we suspect is the cause of the high water bills is the inaccurate water meter readings by Municipal workers or their agents who we contend are unqualified or poorly trained.”
“Our proposal is for Council to fast track the repairs/replacement of ailing water infrastructure and put in place mechanisms to deal with the theft of water and illegal water connections. We want an independent commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of sabotage by the so-called water Mafia that stands to benefit from the everyday disruption of water supply. In the short term, deploy trained and suitable qualified workers to record and submit water meter readings to the Municipality. In the medium to long term, work with community groups to educate and train community volunteers on how to record and send water meter readings directly to the Municipality. This would be a more reliable and cost-effective method of recording water meter readings,” said Maharaj.
“The high cost of electricity supply to consumers in the eThekwini Municipality continues to place an enormous economic burden on all consumers. The large-scale theft of electricity and deliberate sabotage of electricity infrastructure have added to the replacement cost and repairs of damaged infrastructure. In addition, workers who record household electricity meter readings don’t seem adequately trained and competent to record meter readings. We propose that the Council sets up a unit that is independent of the electricity department to identify and deal with electricity theft and illegal electricity connections. Create a special unit within Metro police that must work with SAPS to deal with issues around sabotage of electricity infrastructure and encourage the use of solar energy in all households and businesses. Explore incentives for those using energy-saving devices”
Maharaj said rates and other municipal charges have long been an economic noose around the necks of eThekwini ratepayers. “Our research indicates that our already exorbitant rates are increased each year to cover up losses of the Municipality especially in water, electricity, and solid waste departments. Allegations of massive corruption in these departments are not assisting the situation as funds from the rates collected are poured into these failing
departments. We propose that a study be undertaken to determine the outsourcing of both the water and electricity work to competent businesses/organisations that will run along the lines of City Power and Pick It Up in Gauteng. This will hopefully lessen the reliance on cross-subsidy from the rates revenue base,” added Maharaj.
After a 3-hour meeting, it was agreed that the office of the Mayor would continue to facilitate future meetings and discussions to address issues of concern to the community.
