Residents demand scrapping of bills, reject amnesty plan
The Lotus Gardens, Atteridgeville, and Saulsville Civic Association (LASCA) led the march on May 29.
They described the historic debt as 'bogus'.
The residents handed over their memorandum of demands at Tshwane House in the Pretoria CBD.
LASCA president Tshepo Mahlangu said the estimated bills are 'unconstitutional', and residents should not be obligated to pay for services that cannot be verified.
'The auditor general's report indicated that these bills are estimated, so they are inaccurate,' Mahlangu said.
'Residents cannot be compelled to pay for a debt that is based on estimations, even in terms of the law, we are not obliged to pay for estimations.'
He stated that the metro is struggling with service delivery, which is causing distress across all regions, but customers are facing unjustifiably high and inaccurate bills.
'The metro is so quick to want to collect debts, but when it comes to delivering services, they hold back.
'Residents are faced with poor service delivery but are charged every month for services that are never rendered.'
He said that for residents to start paying bills, the estimated debts should be eliminated, and then services delivered so that there is proof of what they are required to pay for.
'The metro should solve the billing problem by employing more meter readers, delivering services appropriately, and then collecting revenue.'
The Department of Finance recently announced that the municipality's Debt Relief and Incentive Scheme will conclude on May 31, however, residents demanded that the programme be stopped.
'This scheme is used to trick municipal customers into committing to payment arrangements on arrears,' said Mahlangu.
He maintained that the metro should put a stop to the conditional bill amnesty scheme.
Residents expressed their frustration regarding the municipality's billing crisis.
Joyce Manoko, a 69-year-old resident of Atteridgeville, expressed her confusion about why her water bill was so high.
'It doesn't make sense to me how I have a debt of over R100 000 on my bill when I pay the little I have every month for utilities. I don't even own a car wash.'
She said the municipality called her to make an arrangement to pay the debt, but she has no idea how she is going to pay.
'If I agree to that arrangement, how will I pay for it when I don't work and depend on the pensioners' grant only?'
Godfrey Shabalala (65) from Soshanguve said he is hurt by how they are being treated by the metro.
He stated that they are forced to live in darkness and that their taps run dry due to debts they do not understand.
'We are suffering while people in power are living comfortably and earning profits using our names.'
MMC for Finance and Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise received and signed the memorandum of demands, committing to address the issues raised by residents.
'We will call the LASCA delegation and have a meeting with them within the stated 14 days to discuss what should be done, how, and when,' he said.
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