Mogale City Local Municipality may have spoiled Christmas for many local residents after handing out final notices of their water and lights accounts to numerous households.

Their reason behind these? A friendly warning to residents to remember to pay their accounts on time this December, or else they might face exactly what the final notice states.

After furious residents gathered at Town Hall yesterday, 23 December demanding answers, they left unsatisfied.

The News contact DA Ward Councillor Dr Andries Eksteen for some clarity.

He said their caucus chairperson approached the Municipal Manager, Mr Raedani about the notices.

“Please note that final notices for disconnections have been issued in various suburbs which is a direct violation of the Council Resolution where leave was granted to staff and that no disconnections will be done after 20 December. Many of these account holders have paid their accounts and it seems to me that your billing system is not updating the deposits made and amounts are probably in the suspense account.

“Based on this I am requesting that you ensure that no resident is disconnected and that the reverse charges are rectified as soon as possible via a journal and that residents are not prejudiced,” councillor Jacqueline Pannall requested from the Municipal Manager.

He responded saying there will be no disconnections and that the notices are merely reminders for customers to pay and that disconnections will only happen in January for those who will chose to ignore these notices.

But many residents are questioning these tactics from Mogale and would like an official answer.

Comment from Mogale’s communications department was requested, but at the time of publishing this article, none was forthcoming.