The business community of Standerton has serious reservations about Lekwa Municipality’s strategy for collecting revenue.
It has come to the attention of the Standerton Advertiser that pre-paid tariffs for electricity at companies, as well as private residences, have shown a dramatic increase.
A business woman and community activist, Ms Barbara Sheppard, said on Wednesday, August 25 that some individuals are charged business tariffs.
A case in point is a resident who stays between two flat blocks and has to pay business tariffs.
Another resident has calculated that she usually spent between R1 500 to R2 000 monthly for pre-paid units, but the pre-paid meter has been gobbling up double that amount since June this year.
This follows an inspection done at her place and the installation of a new smart meter.
According to Ms Sheppard, municipal employees have in the past personally bridged meters, but when inspections were afterwards done, the ratepayers had to pay fines as the meters were bridged.
“Many a call was placed to Lekwa over the years to attend to their problems,” Ms Sheppard also said.
Ms Sheppard is of the opinion that the rates and taxes increases in October last year, as well as the increase last month, albeit much less, should not be absorbed by the business people only.
She queried the number of illegal connection in Standerton as a whole, going as far as to say, transgressors should be arrested.
Another piece of gossip, that makes the rounds from time to time, is that municipal employees are not that keen to do inspections in Sakhile.
It is alleged that illegal connections and bridging of meters are rampant in the township.
The danger of the situation speaks volumes.
At a media briefing in the council chambers during the tenure of Mr Linda Dhlamini, former mayor, it was said that some residents only wait for the electrical department to leave after inspections.
The next day it is back to business.
With this long preamble and taking into account the Eskom-debt and interest, the administrator of Lekwa, Mr Johann Mettler, had the following comment in his Section 39-report.
“The biggest problem in the municipality relates to availability of reliable electricity daily and energy security in the long term.“
“Plans have been put in place to increase revenue collection through a data cleansing exercise, as well as targeted debt recovery coupled with actual meter reading.”
Ms Sheppard concluded by voicing the morale of the community.
“Residents do not mind paying their accounts, but then people should be treated fairly.
“A handful of people can not compensate for municipal debt.”
The Standerton Advertiser contacted the communications manager of the municipality, Ms Thobeka Mtshiselwa, via WhatsApp on Thursday, August 26.
The following questions were posed:
Is there any truth in the allegation that municipal employees are hesitant to tackle illegal connections in Sakhile?
Will Lekwa also address illegal connections and bridged meters in the township?
What does the administrator mean in the Section 39-report with a targeted debt recovery plan?
Could you please comment on the business community’s feeling that they are singled out?
Why is electricity so expensive?
Why do residents have to pay for three-phase-electricity?
