ARREARS
Cut-off deadline issued for municipal water debt
Municipalities’ bulk-water supply will be cut off unless they paid their bills in arrears by two months and no longer
The Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation has passed the buck to municipalities for ensuring that people have access to water when it is cut off on December 8. The department and at least 30 municipalities have been locked in battle for more than two years over a R10bn debt owed to it. It has given notice to the municipalities that their bulk-water supply would be cut off unless they paid their bills in arrears by two months and no longer. About 73% of the R10bn debt was in arrears by more than 60 days. Of the R10bn debt, R3.9bn was owed to the department’s Water Trading Entity and R6.8bn to SA’s various water boards. "What are we to do?" asked departmental spokesman Sputnik Ratau. "This has been going for two years. We have court orders against the municipalities, but they don’t pay." He said the department was constantly held accountable under the Constitution, but no one holds the municipalities accountable for their constitutional obligations. Under section 27 of the Consti...
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