Lekwa Municipality contributes to water wastage of a staggering 91% in the province.
The Standerton Advertiser published statistics in its 11 May edition.
“Even though there is a 2% improvement since last year, it is not good enough,” Mr James Masango, Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesman of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), said.
According to a DA-presentation to the portfolio committee of CogTA, municipalities lost R1.099-billion because officials failed to adequately address water leakages and electricity theft.
The DA said they also failed to create sound revenue collection systems for water and electricity usage.
Lekwa stood at 91% and it resulted in a total loss of 50% of the revenue which they could have collected.
The DA also referred to shortages of housing and inadequacies in the school and hospital environment and said R1.099-billion could have been used to build RDP houses with water, road and sanitation infrastructure, or to sort out the school sanitation crisis, or to construct two hospitals, or to develop schools.
An e-mail was sent to Ms Thobeka Mtshiselwa, spokesman of the municipality, on 22 April and was answered on 9 May regarding these allegations.
When asked about when water wastage will be addressed, Ms Mtshiselwa answered: “The municipality is busy attending to the problem.”
She also said the municipality developed a model for water conservation and demand management and refurbishment of the Standerton Water Treatment Plant was concluded in 2015.
According to Ms Mtshiselwa, the municipality appointed a consultant to develop the model and a contractor was appointed in 2016 for water leaks in Wards 6 and 11, as well as to install pressure reducing valves in Wards 4, 8 and 11.
Level control valves were also installed at the reservoirs and pipes replaced.
The model could not be implemented due to financial constraints and in the 2016/17 financial year the municipality upgraded the filters and refurbished some of the components at the Standerton Water Treatment Plant.
The project of refurbishing and upgrading of the plant proceeded in the new financial year.
Ms Mtshiselwa left the question of addressing revenue losses unanswered.
