Unpaid water bill frustrates residents

An unpaid water bill of almost half a million rand saw the Oranjezicht Retirement Village, allegedly run and rented by the City of Mbombela, have its water disconnected without any notice to its residents.

They awoke on Monday morning to no water, and some of them immediately called the City’s water provider, Silulumanzi, to find out the cause of the issue, thinking that it might have been a burst pipe.

However, much to their chagrin, they were instead told the village’s water had not been paid and therefore it had to be disconnected.

A letter addressed to “MLM NST Oranjezicht Community Services” from ITC Business Administrators’ credit control department on October 12 warned of possible water disconnections due to non-payment. The bill totalled an astounding R470 000.

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This letter is in Lowvelder’s possession.  A long-time resident of Oranjezicht, who wished not to be named for fear of victimisation from the municipality, said that in the nine years she had lived there, the water had never been cut due to non-payment of water bills. Oranjezicht has 37 units and 52 residents aged between 60 and 80. Some residents have lived there for almost 20 years.

“The village is rented out to residents by the City of Mbombela and according to our rental agreement, they are supposed to maintain the units and pay the water bill,” said the resident.

“I called Silulumanzi on Monday morning about there being no water, and asked if there was a burst pipe or if they were doing maintenance somewhere, and we were told that the municipality had not paid the water bill and our water was therefore disconnected.”

Silulumanzi’s spokesperson, Richmond Jele, said while they could not confirm who the landlords of the retirement village are, they could confirm that the party in charge of maintaining the village had in fact not paid their water bills, and therefore the water to the homes was disconnected.

He said the Silulumanzi management had later taken the decision to reconnect the village, however.

A Nelspruit Rotarian who also wished not to be named for fear of victimisation, said Rotary had handed the complex over to the municipality in 1964, and it undertook to run regular maintenance and enter into lease agreements with the tenants.

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“They don’t abide by the laws of the land as tenants, and we have tried to rectify such with them, but it all falls on deaf ears,” he said.

He added that the municipality owed a substantial amount to Silulumanzi, not including the R470 000.

The City of Mbombela’s spokesperson, Joseph Ngala, said, however, that the water account for Oranjezicht is part of a bigger account the City has with Silulumanzi.

“Water services have been restored to the village as the two parties continue to engage to resolve these matters. There are services for which Silulumanzi owes the municipality and services for which the municipality owes Silulumanzi, so, there has to be a reconciliation of these amounts owed by one party to the other, offsetting the debt owed by each party and then settling whatever shortfall remains,” he said.