The Department of Water and Sanitation had secured commitments of another R300m from indebted municipalities, minister Nomvula Mokonyane said on Wednesday. The department issued notices in November to about 30 municipalities countrywide that their bulk water supply would be reduced unless they made arrangements to pay bills in arrears for 60 days or longer before December 8. The total amount owed to the department and to water boards stood at R10.7bn in November. About R213m of that debt had been paid to the water boards and about R55.5m to the department’s Water Trading Entity. "We anticipate that over the next few days this figure should increase as more municipalities have made commitments to pay the agreed amounts towards the old debt and to settle their current account debt (invoices not older than 30 days)." The department planned to begin restricting bulk water supply "by a reasonable pressure margin" to the municipalities that had failed to respond to the notices and that ha...
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