LETTER: Cutting essential services is not way to go

The decision by DA-led coalitions to use strict methods to recover debt, including cutting off power to defaulting ratepayers, must be handled very carefully.

There are three categories of ratepayers: residential, business and government departments. Presently government departments owe municipalities billions of rand and this should be pursued vigorously. However, cutting off essential services is not the way to go.

How did entities accumulate arrears amounting to such high amounts? During the Covid-19 lockdowns many municipalities suspended their debt recovery policies and opted not to disconnect customers for failing to pay for services. Most businesses were forced to close and their workers did not get paid. Once the lockdown was lifted, disconnections  began in earnest and most customers were faced with exorbitant arrears.

The DA’s public spectacle around the disconnection of services to the Sheraton hotel in Pretoria is not something to be celebrated. The hotel employs over 300 workers, most of whom are residential customers of the municipality. It was forced to close during the lockdown but elected to continue paying its staff, with a recovery plan in place once business could resume.

We propose that no customer should have their services disconnected for arrears arising from the lockdown. As part of the government’s Covid-19 stimulus programme a grant should be allocated to all municipalities to cover utility costs accrued during lockdown.

We are currently seeing businesses close operations in SA because of high input costs. This will have dire consequences for our already battered economy. Those customers whose incomes were not affected by the lockdown, like government departments, must pay and legal avenues must be exhausted first to recover the debt.

Visvin Reddy
President, African Democratic Change

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