Cape Town - The City of Cape Town wrote off R210 million in debt after installing almost 18 000 water management devices in lower-income households, but some residents say they are being duped by city officials who misled them about the council’s incentive scheme.
Kaashief Cyster, who used to work for a meter manager service contracted to the municipality, has spoken out, saying residents are being billed for outstanding water accounts despite being assured that their debts would be written off if they installed the water-saving devices.
Cyster, who lost his job when he complained to his managers that residents were being given false information about their water accounts, has lodged a complaint with the city’s forensic services unit.
The forensic probe into the matter was confirmed by Ernest Sonnenberg, mayoral committee member for utility services. But he said that this was a “recent matter and as such, further information is not yet available”.
The Cape Argus has the meter numbers of residents who have complained about the “lies” they were told by council officials and contractors when their water management devices were installed.
Cyster said officials were told to push the arrears incentive when they visited indigent households to encourage them to switch to the water management device.
The other incentive was the assurance that the city would repair any leaks that could also add to the monthly water bill.
Indigent households have a combined monthly income of less than R4 000 or a property valued at less than R300 000.
The water management device is set to deliver an average of 350 litres a day, which helps regulate a household’s monthly water bill. But Cyster said many of the households he visited in Macassar and Eerste River were still being billed for their water arrears, some more than six months after getting the device. “It’s not right what they (the city) are doing to the people. Was it just empty promises?”
He said council officials, who had briefed the meter installers on how to encourage residents to use the device, had also complained that they could not take the lies anymore.
Sonnenberg said that during the awareness and education phase of the installation, city officials explained that the arrears would be written off “once all internal processes have been completed and correctly captured on the billing system”.
He said the extent to which this was specified and questioned during each session would depend on the customer.
“The communication to the customer is that the write-off of arrears will follow as part of the process. Hence, there is not a period where the customer needs to show they can adhere to the limit. The limit is managed via the technology contained in the device,” Sonnenberg said.
He explained that the write-off could occur on the customer’s next bill, but that it would more likely be reflected on the second billing cycle.
Responding to concerns raised by Cyster that some residents were still getting bills for their old debt, Sonnenberg said: “Customers who have not received their write-off after two months should raise this with the city so that the specific case can be investigated.”
Cape Argus