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Two families in limbo without meter boxes or title deeds

Two grandmothers in Ikageng have been paying for water they may not even have used.

Two grandmothers in Ikageng have been paying for water they may not even have used.

Gogo Dola Nxumalo and her neighbour, Rebecca Sekoto live in Itireleng Street. No one has installed water meters in their homes in three decades.

If Gogo Nxumalo (85) does not submit the indigent forms for free electricity and water, she can pay between R300 and R600 for herself and two granddaughters.

‘The council official whistles as he passes my house and only looks at the number. At the end of the month, I get a bill based on his guesswork. It is not right that there is no measuring instrument,’ she said.

The ailing grandmother says she has reported the problem in the past but she cannot get to the municipal offices because she even struggles to walk for four metres.

‘I reported the problem to the Ward 4 councillor when he was here earlier this year but nothing has been done about it. I am trying to save water and fix the leaking toilet in my home. I can’t provide any proof that I have been saving water,’ she said.

Gogo Dola Nxumalo holds the statement. Photo: Selogile Leshage

When the Herald visited the two families, water was flowing from 59-year-old Rebecca’s tap but there was no meter box. ‘Sometimes I pay R400 and sometimes I pay R200, depending on the municipal official’s mood when he walks past my house,’ she said. ‘I’m a pensioner and I cannot afford to pay for guesswork. I have reported this problem countless times. In 2016, the municipal workers dug a huge pit next to the tap and promised to install the meter box. They left it open for months so I decided to close it up, fearing for the lives of my grandchildren. They have never set foot in my yard since then,’ she said.

No title deeds to show for ownership of houses
In addition to Gogo Nxumalo’s water woes, she has been fighting to obtain the title deeds to her home since the 1990s. ‘When I was still healthy, I went to the municipal offices and they showed me that my house does not exist on their computer – it is just an empty space. I have made follow-up visits that amounted to nothing,’ she said.

The staunch ANC supporter says the only people who have been to her house were DA members; she told them she is voting for the ANC. ‘No municipal officials have visited me to rectify the title deed problem,’ she said.

Council spokesperson responds
Willie Maphosa, the council spokesperson, admitted that there are no water meters at the above addresses. ‘We have instructed our infrastructure department to install the meters. We will follow up and find out what actually happened.

‘However, according to our records, both consumers pay a basic charge of only R63.81 for water. This applies to all consumers of the municipality where there are no meters. They pay for the water connection on their premises. The client only pays for the consumption if the water is metered. In other words, the meter readers just take monthly readings where there are meters, which is not the case with the two consumers.

‘The electricity they both use is pre-paid. We do not bill pre-paid consumers; the purchases they make will show on their statements, not what we have billed,’ he said.
Regarding Mrs Nxumalo’s title deeds predicament, Ramaphosa says the house in which she stays is not an RDP house. ‘In other words, our records do not show that she has ever applied for the RDP house,’ he said.

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