POLOKWANE – The time has come for Mankweng residents to pay for municipal services.
This statement was made by Polokwane mayor, Freddy Greaver, during a council meeting last Thursday.
He said problems with the billing system could not justify Mankweng residents not paying for services.
“The time has come now to enforce payment. They were consulted and the municipality explained why they should also pay for services. We must all work together and implement council resolutions,” he said.
The total municipal billing in August amounted to R100 million, while the payments amounted to R91 million. The R8 million shortfall is caused by the non-payment of areas like Mankweng, Sebayeng and Seshego, with some defaulters in the city.
Mankweng is consuming 10 megalitres of water per day, constituting 3 650 megalitres per annum.
The average consumption for the first two months of this financial year amounted to R736 616 per month and R8,8 million per annum excluding VAT.
Greaver met with education MEC, Dikeledi Magadzi, about the termination of services to certain schools. Magadzi said her office would try to find a way in which schools could be assisted to settle their debts.
However, she was concerned about schools keeping their accounts up to date in future due to limited resources. She asked the municipality to consider a rebate or reduction in this regard. According to a report tabled before the council about customer care and billing for September, revenue from water was 8% ahead of planned projections.
• Electricity was 7% behind the planned projections, but pre-paid electricity was not yet included and would have served to cover the variance.
