POLOKWANE – Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng, said departments which owe money to the Polokwane Municipality will be cut off from service delivery until these debts have been paid.
Nkadimeng made this statement during the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) budget meeting at Nirvana hall on Thursday.
She said departments with accounts in arrears will have to settle their accounts if they want to continue getting service delivery. Although there is much at stake when cutting service delivery at schools and hospitals for water and electricity, Nkadimeng said that the situation has become so dire that drastics steps like these were necessary. “I am taking the risk of being at war with government, but I feel it is time for someone to draw the line,” she said. She added that the municipality has shown great patience for too long for those who do not want to pay their accounts. This, she said, often has the consequence of the municipality being unable to deliver the level of service which is expected such as building infrastructure like roads, among others, in rural areas.
The Director of Engineering Services, Nditsheni Sikhauli, said the core functions of the directorate includes providing basic services such as water, sanitation and roads to communities by maintaining the existing services and providing new infrastructure. He said: “Sanitation is about dignity. The availability of sanitation facilities not only improves the dignity of people but also promotes their health. It is important for the municipality to prioritise on the service, particularly taking into account the backlog in rural sanitation”.
Sikhauli added the municipality has been experiencing around 2% growth and as a results the demand for water has exceeded the available supply. He said the city pipe network is made of asbestos pipelines that are over 50 years old, already nearly double its expected lifespan of 30 years.”This has resulted in continuous pipe bursts across the city and a loss of precious water. The funds needed to upgrade the pipeline in the city amounts to around R553 million, while the funds needed to address the sanitation backlog amounts to around R500 million. That is why the municipality has decided to take such drastic measures to get payment on all outstanding accounts,” he said.
