POLOKWANE – THE Polokwane Municipality has reiterated its call for impoverished residents to register on the municipal indigent database.
This announcement came after several households’ water and electricity supply were disconnected for defaulting on municipal rates.
The municipality said it would support all registered indigents who qualified in terms of the existing policy, which encouraged households earning below R3 500 per month to apply.
Although some residents claimed to have applied for indigent registration, they said their water and electricity supply have since been disconnected.
An unemployed orphan from Seshego said she was reduced to tears when municipal officials allegedly stormed into her yard and disconnected her water supply last Monday. The young woman, who owed the council about R530, was one of the indigents who struggled to pay her municipal rates.
She said since her parents passed away three years ago, within six months of each other, she and her brother had struggled to make ends meet.
She said what brought her to tears was the “insensitive and rude manner” the municipal workers displayed.
“These people just waltzed into my backyard and told me that I had defaulted on my payments.
“When I told them I had never worked in my life, they told me to go and look for a job and pay my municipal rates.
“Where am I going to get a job within a few days if I have been unsuccessful in the past,” the devastated resident asked.
Her neighbour, Matome Sethole, said: “I have long registered on the indigent database, but since my electricity was disconnected, I have been in the dark. At least I still have a water supply”.
Municipal spokesperson, Tidimalo Chuene, said the council has already written off indigents’ debt of about R35 million in the current financial year 2014/15.
“Registration is still open and the said orphan should be directed to the municipal offices to apply for indigent support.”
Responding to the alleged rude attitude of the municipal officials, Chuene said, “the Polokwane Municipality subscribes to government’s principles of Batho Pele and will not hesitate to act against its own employees should it be proven that they provided bad customer service.”
