City threatens to cut off Mandela’s water and lights
HOUGHTON - The city council has seemingly threatened to cut off services to Nelson Mandela's Houghton Estate home and take legal action due to unpaid bills.
According to Eyewitness News, a pre-termination notice dated 1 August was stuck to the former President’s gates over the weekend.
The notice, addressed to 49 Fourth Street, Oaklands, stated an amount of R6468.48 was outstanding, and that the account had been in arrears for more than a month.
Should the amount not be settled, services would be restricted or discontinued, or legal action would be instituted without notice.
Eyewitness News reported that the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory said the city council “should verify its facts” and denied Mandela owed “any outstanding amounts relating to services”.
Ward councillor Marcelle Ravid said she doubted the notice had been delivered to the correct address.
“The notice said ‘Oaklands’, but this suburb is not Oaklands. It’s Houghton Estate. I’m sure it was put up at the wrong address. Contractors were hired to deliver these notices, and they’re very keen to just stick up these notices. It’s definitely not for this address,” she said.
According to Eyewitness News, City Power had not confirmed whether Mandela’s account was in arrears, nor had it ruled out the possibility that the notice had been incorrectly delivered or was a billing error.
