Johannesburg - The liquidators of Blyvooruitzicht gold mine in Carletonville scored a major victory against Merafong Local Municipality after being allowed to investigate why their water bill stood at R197 million.
The bill dates from 2006.
The mine’s troubles began in August 2013, when it was placed under liquidation and thousands of workers were left jobless.
During the intervening years, Merafong had supplied water at a cost of more than R3m a month for mining operations, household and business use in the mine village.
The water was supplied in bulk to the mine’s single storage centre. The mine was responsible for the distribution of water, including maintaining its pipes, because it was a private company.
Due to non-payment, Merafong stopped the water supply last month. It also refused the liquidators’ settlement offer of paying R500 000 a month until the bill was cleared.
Merafong said: “The offer cannot be accepted because it does not service the monthly consumption, and it also does not, in any way, address the arrears owed to Merafong. Accepting such an offer would in fact have the implication that Merafong City agrees to write off over R3.7 million a month, which it cannot do in terms of legislation or the municipal policy framework.”
According to the latest Government Gazette on Gauteng’s municipal statements, Merafong carries an outstanding debt of R588.95m for amounts owed to it for more than 90 days.
Yesterday, however, Merafong mayor Amphenol Mogale-Letsie made an about-turn and agreed to the liquidators’ new offer.
Instead of R500 000, liquidators agreed to increase it by R100 000 to reconnect the water. The controversial decision was endorsed by Gauteng MEC for Co-operative Governance, Traditional Affairs and Human Settlements Jacob Mamabolo. The R600 000 was due today.
Addressing journalists yesterday after a two-day meeting, Mamabolo said they had agreed with the liquidators that the mine’s high bill could have been because of broken pipes or illegal mining.
In their “declaration of intent” the liquidators were also given a rare opportunity to determine whether they deserved to pay the outstanding bill owed to the municipality.
The declaration stated: “The liquidator will appoint, at its own cost, a specialist consultant with immediate effect to conduct a comprehensive investigation to identify any possible leakages on the internal infrastructure and to identify accurate capturing of the inflow and usage of the piped water supply to both the Blyvooruitzicht and Doornfontein pipelines.
“The investigation must be concluded by July 15, 2015 and a report to be circulated on July 20 to the parties. The technical team of the municipality shall have access to all work processes by the liquidator’s team.”
The declaration was supported by Lawyers for Human Rights and the SA Human Rights Commission.
The decision was expected to be made an order of the high court today.
The Star