Water account write-offs have been a talking point among locals.
Many were excited to hear the news that Uthukela District Municipality had, at a council meeting on November 29, 2011, resolved to write-off historical debt within the district.
This brought relief to many residents whose water accounts were in thousands of rands of arrears.
Uthukela District Municipality Speaker Tim Jeebodh, who was an active and vocal member of the water Crisis Committee who opposed the unlawful increase in water tariff increases, made the announcement in March 2014.
The district municipality had set aside R70 million for the first instalment of water account write-offs, Umtshezi residents owe Uthukela District Municipality about R53 million.
Residents who expected to see a complete write-off were disappointed to see that a partial write-off was reflected on their July statement.
Many wondered why the entire amount was not written-off as initially anticipated.
How was the write-off calculated?
What factors were taken into account?
Is this just an initial phase?
Will a further amount be written off?
These were just some of the questions asked by some readers who called the Estcourt News.
Mr Jeebodh was asked to comment on these concerns about two weeks ago but no response has been received.