Community still demands flat rate

VANDERBIJLPARK. – Community members of Ward 10 marched to the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) Head Offices in Vanderbijlpark last week.
The march was in demand for answers for their flat-rate requests that they put through to ELM Executive Mayor, Gift Moerane, almost a year ago. Lehlohonolo Moepadira, a local resident, said they had met with Moerane a year ago when he promised them an answer soon, but that this has not happened and, this was before the ELM was placed under administration. The community members said that they have now waited for too long. Their fear is that they might find themselves cut off from services provided by the ELM and they demanded a flat rate of between R200 and R500. The ELM had earlier this month announced that it is going to cut off households that have not been paying for services starting from last week, July 22. This time, the residents were addressed by Sipho Mnguni, a Manager in the office of the Municipal Manager (MM), Lucky Leseane. Mnguni was unable to commit to a specific flat rate, saying there were issues that still needed to be looked into, and that those who were found to have transgressed faced serious measures. He added that there will be communication with leaders of the community to update them on the latest regarding the matter. Aside from the fear of finding themselves cut-off, the community members said they were angry to hear that Moerane was speaking on a local radio, threatening cut-offs before receiving petitions from the concerned communities. Mnguni acknowledged that there would never be cut-offs without communication with the community and added that there will be consultations with residents through councillors.