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File Photo - Maponya Mall the largest shopping centre in Soweto owes Johannesburg Water about R20 million. Photo: Boxer Ngwenya

Water supply to the Maponya Mall was almost cut off on Tuesday because the largest shopping centre in Soweto owes Johannesburg Water about R20 million.

Six officials in three Johannesburg Water vans and Joburg metro police officers arrived at the mall on Tuesday morning to cut off the water supply.

However, the operation was called off after it emerged that negotiations were taking place between the mall’s management and the City of Joburg’s revenue services department.

It would have been the second time that water was cut off at the mall, which opened in 2007.

Metro police spokesman Wayne Minnaar said metro officers had assisted Johannesburg Water to suspend the service on December 1 over non-payment. “The supply was cut off for half the day… and now Johannesburg Water is talking about the mall owing about R20m,” he said.

Maponya Mall centre manager Howard Kekana was at pains to emphasise that management had never defaulted on payments.

He said the problem was more about the increase in billing rates, an issue that had not been in the original contract with the council.

“When the property was developed, the rate was fixed and there was an agreement on that particular rate. We have been paying what we agreed on. But now there has been a sudden increase of the rate by 220 percent, which we feel is very unfair.

“If they (the council) had told us from the outset that there would be a 220 percent increase on our rates, then the mall wouldn’t have been built,” he said.

Kekana added that Richard Maponya, the mall’s owner, would be meeting mayor Parks Tau and officials from Johannesburg Water on Friday to discuss a way to resolve the rate issue.

However, Kekana would not disclose how much the mall was paying towards the water bill each month.

“This is a public place, and the water supply can’t just be cut off. We serve a million customers a month, and that sort of disruption could also pose a health risk as we need water for toilets,” he said.

Retailers renting franchise space at the mall seemed unaware of the issue surrounding the rates dispute, but after speaking to a team from The Star, they were worried about how it would affect their businesses. The retailers said they paid rent to centre management inclusive of water and electricity.

The manager of Lé Looks hair salon, Mabuya Mthembu, said the mall had experienced electricity supply disruptions in the past, but she had no idea there was a problem with water bill payments. “We really need water for our business. I mean, let’s say we have put chemical products on a client’s hair and the supply goes off, what would we do?”

Nino’s Restaurant manager Xolile Nduli said there had been one or two short disruptions in water supply at the mall last year, but retailers and restaurants had been notified in advance.

“It was a slight inconvenience because we run an establishment dependent on water supply. The water disruptions last year were just a half-day thing and there were renovations around the mall as well, so they also caused some minor disruptions,” he said.

Johannesburg Water spokesman Baldwin Matsimela referred queries to the council’s revenue services department, saying it was responsible for sorting out the billing.

Revenue services department spokesman Stan Maphologela refused to confirm or deny that Maponya Mall owed about R20m.

“We respect our customers’ right to privacy and we treat our customers’ information as secret and confidential. We will not release any information to any third party,” said Maphologela. - The Star

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