The residents of Ventersdorp are launching a class action to take the NW405 to court because they say, they were not consulted about the recently enacted debt collection policy.
According to Naledi Rampa, a community leader, the 95:5 arrears policy means that, when one buys R100 electricity, the person gets the R5 worth of electricity and the rest goes towards settling the arrears account. The person, therefore, will receive 3,4 kilowatts.
‘This is detrimental to the poorest of the poor in our community, including HIV positive people, the aged and child-headed families that need electricity to cook and store medication in fridges. There is a woman on oxygen who also needs electricity. Where is her husband going to get the money if he only receives 3,4 kilowatts of electricity each day?’ he asked.
Rampa says the problem started on 28 June when the community of Ventersdorp received notices from NW405 that consumers of services should register their electricity meters at the accounts department.
‘As from 1 July, they have adhered to the notices, only to be forced to sign an acknowledgement of debt form on a letterhead from the non-existent Tlokwe City Council and printed “signed in Potchefstroom”. This illegal 95:5 arrears policy was then introduced to the community under false pretences,’ said Rampa.
‘The community raised this with the mayor who admitted the mistake during a community meeting on 13 July. ‘He promised to reverse it the following day but nothing has changed. There are people who do not have electricity because they cannot afford it,’ he said.
Rampa went on to say that it is unlawful for electricity vendors to collect the debt because they are not registered debt collectors. ‘We demand that the community is repaid the money that was deducted from them since 1 July. The Ventersdorp Local Municipality adopted a debt write-off policy in the 2013/2014 financial year and that stands as a resolution,’ says Rampa.
‘We are taking the municipality to court because the mayor is not trustworthy; he raised the hopes of the people. He never even informed them of the new policy at the mayoral imbizo on 7 May. We cannot afford to protest and burn tyres because these people are sick, old and bedridden,’ he said emotionally.
The mayoral spokesperson responds
The mayoral spokesperson, Victor Boqo says it is within the Ventersdorp community’s constitutional and democratic right to take the municipality to court.
He says this is a new financial year and a new credit control policy was introduced for NW405 to recover money owed to the municipality. ‘That is why we collect the debt according to the 95:5 arrears deduction policy.’
He advised those who cannot afford to pay for services to make arrangement at the municipality so that arrears payments are not deducted every time they purchase prepaid electricity.
‘If you do not have an income or earn less than R3 500, you can register as an indigent and receive free water and electricity,’ he said.
Boqo says the confusion with the forms signed by the residents arose when the NW405 forms ran out. ‘The officials, therefore, used the forms with a Tlokwe emblem as they did not want people to have to wait for the new forms. There is nothing wrong with those forms,’ he said.
Boqo said that in this new, amalgamated municipality, only the city council can scrap the debt.