Editor
I often hear the dilemma faced by consumers regarding the water debacle in your paper and the issue of the write-offs and the uncertainty existing with this issue.
I am apprehensive when questioned about this and what is most perplexing is the fact that consumers :-
Feel that they have been abandoned by the IFP and the ANC and,
Feel that the law does not offer any remedies, although our country has leading legislation and a judicial system, which is comparable to the best in the world
That politicians tend to act with impunity, abuse rate and tax payers, solicit votes under false pretences, make bogus promises, gorge from the treasury trough until public and media outcry exposes corruption, which leads to re-deployment and cushioned in other departments – whilst the public are punished for committing crimes, public officials have developed the technique of evading prosecution, tying up issues in our courts, attracting life threatening illnesses if convicted and finding ways for parole.
There is an uneasiness about laws being channelled to courts to decide on legislation and its interpretation.
Parliament appears to be losing its function of creating sustainable legislation, after thorough debates –the standard of debates is alarmingly puerile and unarticulated with sound reasoning, legislation is rushed through by majority votes we see mess-ups in education, the toll saga and many more with issues being resolved by courts, when this is the primary function of parliament.
I enclosed a letter received from UDM in which the following is recorded, that it was resolved by council unanimously on the 29/11/2012:-
All outstanding arrear amounts by consumers are to be written-off
The monies held in trust be paid over with the accrued interest to the UDM
A task team was to be mandated to give effect to those resolutions
Water cutoffs be addressed by visiting communities
In effect then, the courts have pronounced on the illegality of the tariffs in terms of the application brought by the WCC, a resolution was passed by council and I can also confirm that I personally attended a meeting convened by the ANC councillors in Ladysmith where they unanimously resolved to give effect to this resolution – that was about the beginning of this year.
We are in a quandary now:-
(i) what do we do when an organ of state refuses to give effect to a decision by the court?
(ii) How do you motivate them to give effect to their own resolution ?
(iii) how do you get to impress upon the municipality to uphold their promises that they, their erstwhile politicians, ministers, a previous President of this country and officials (also Parliament when they sat in Estcourt) undertook to resolve this problem?
As law abiding citizens who want to pay for services, I have no answer because my solution lies only in what remedies the law has given to us.
Seeking answers from councillors in UDM also leads to answers which are mysterious, irreconcilable and which I cannot decipher with all my qualifications! In the first instance, I have had to produce the court judgment repeatedly and cCouncillors and officials (through arrogance and to cause frustration , I believe) sought an explanation as to what was meant by the judgment, which could easily be understood by primary school learners, the refusal of the UDM to take receipt of the monies held in Nedbank when organs of state are on the verge of insolvency, where there is a need to improve infrastructure and service delivery or providing for the poorest of the poor (I never understood this superfluous or redundant word) which is a song we hear too often (now a soliloquy), when this was requested off them on a number of occasions, boggles my mind.
Once we heard the absurd fairytale about leading water up the mountain (jack and jill rhyme) as being the major cost drivers and therefore, their failure to implement a resolution.
The only solution lies at the ballot box perhaps but whether this issue will then be resolved – your guess is as good as mine.
All I can confirm is that we executed the mandate of the public sincerely, honestly and with integrity-that’s the best I could do!
Rashid Patel