The Democratic Alliance in Potchefstroom has claimed a political connection between the financial woes of the JB Marks municipality and the merger of Tlokwe(Potchefstroom) and Ventersdorp municipalities.
According to Hans Jurie Moolman, DA councillor, the collection of revenue in Ventersdorp went wrong before the the merger with Potchefstroom in 2015.
“The municipality’s system of delivery, measuring consumption and invoicing of residents collapsed and became a mess. At the time and before the merger the municipality, district municipality and provincial government was advised to fix this problem. Fixing the problem obviously meant that a very unpopular political decision had to be taken and that was to install meters ans start collecting revenue. This step would have angered residents who had disputes with the municipality and persons who have become used to a situation where they do not receive invoices for water and electricity they consumed. It would have also resulted in a situation where residents would be required to pay huge amounts in arrears,” Moolman said.
Moolman notes that instead of addressing the collapse of systems in Ventersdorp, unpopular decisions before the elections were avoided by deciding that Ventersdorp is no longer viable and to embark on the merger.
“Until today (10 years later) the problems in Ventersdorp were never addressed and only approximately 15% of the revenue that is required to provide basic services in Ventersdorp gets collected. The shortfall is funded via residents in Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp who are paying for the water and electricity that gets consumed. It will not require a difficult exercise to know that the revenue that gets collected by the municipality is not nearly enough to provide the much needed services to both the communities of Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp,” he said.
Illegal electricity connections (where electricity is consumed without paying for it) have also became a reality in Potchefstroom.
“Every month we buy water and electricity from ESKOM and the Water Board to distribute to our residents and the municipality gets invoiced for it, but we are not collecting enough revenue to pay for what we consume. This has resulted in a situation where JB Marks for the first time since the dawn of democracy owes ESKOM more that R700 million and the Water Board in the region of R100 million. The situation above is the result of political positions that affects the lives of each and every one of our residents and there is no plan to change or address this. They are more than comfortable to place JB Marks on the same path of self destruction as Ditsobotla, Matlosana and other Northwest municipalities that now rank amongst the worst in South Africa,” Moolman said.
At the time of publication the Herald had not received feedback from the municipality.
