Staff Reporter
Municipalities should step up their operations so that they are able to pay for services and ensure communities have ready access to key amenities such as water all times, Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has said.
He told journalists during a media briefing in Welkom on Wednesday that while poor governance and poor financial management at some water boards had led to protracted legal battles with some municipalities, it’s important for the local authorities to pay on time for services received to ensure uninterrupted supplies.
“They have to run their affairs in such a way that they are able to fulfil their own mandate in relation to services (such as supplying water),” said Mchunu.
The newly appointed minister has been in the Free State since Tuesday meeting local municipalities and various water authorities in a bid to get a better understanding of the perennial challenges faced by either party which have resulted in some parts of the province not having running water for several days.
He said several municipalities in the province have acknowledged that they owe the water boards for bulk water supplies and he would like to see them making an effort to pay so that the work of the water boards is not hindered.
“From the provincial government and the municipalities themselves, all of them are acknowledging that there are issues of debt,” said Mchunu.
“We will play our role ensuring that the water charges are a true reflection of the amount of water consumed by the municipalities.
“But at the same time, because we are fully mandated to deliver water, we are not going to allow a situation where we get affected by municipalities’ own problems such that we fall with them.
“It’s not going to happen. In one way or the other, we will have to move on with the pipe and the water and get it delivered ultimately.”
Matjhabeng Local Municipality is sitting with the highest water bill in the province as it owes Sedibeng Water over R4-billion.
Mangaung Metro is said to owe Bloemwater close to a billion rand for bulk water supplies while Kopanong Local Municipality owes it about half-a-billion rand.
Recent studies have found that about 41 percent of municipal water is non-revenue, meaning that the water is either not billed or paid for.
This, according to reports from earlier this year, has seen the department losing around R9.9-billion, either because of physical losses and leakage from service connections, or as a result of municipalities not paying their debt, or failing to collect money from water users.
The minister will no longer travel to Maluti-A-Phofung on Thursday as planned.
He will now be briefed on the long-running water problems faced by the municipality by a delegation that will meet him in Welkom before concluding his visit to the province.