DURBAN - RESIDENTS of Durban are expected to take to the streets on Thursday in a planned placard demonstration against high eThekwini municipality tariffs.
African Democratic Change (ADeC) activist Visvin Reddy said they would be embarking on mass protests, starting on Thursday, on Higginson Highway in Mobeni Heights at 3pm. He said protests were a sure way of letting politicians know that they had failed ratepayers. Reddy said people could not afford such exorbitant tariffs.
“We cannot complain when our lights get disconnected or we receive estimated bills, if we don't act now. It's our moral responsibility to challenge unjust decisions,” Reddy said.
IFP Councillor Jonathan Annipen said the Revenue Management System (RMS) had a variety of issues and had been fraught with challenges from the time it came into existence in 2016. Annipen said the city had been delayed in addressing the technical challenges.
“People are not fully aware of what the consequences are for not paying for the service. Some people were under the impression that because of the Covid-19 they must not pay their bills and it would be written off. On the other hand, residents receive their bills late. They are now paying in arrears. Many residents have been overcharged.
“In some instances, the meter has not been read for a while. Some people have been billed for someone else’s meter.
“I have resolved many of these issues in Phoenix,” Annipen said.
The eThekwini Municipality media office said it dealt with all accounts individually, as the reasons for high bills being that specific amounts could be due to a number of reasons, and sometimes, even water leaks.
Chris Pappas, MPL and DA KZN spokesperson on Cogta, said he wrote to the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, calling on him to conduct an investigation into the scale of incorrect and unfair billing in the province.
A survey consisting of more than 770 respondents from across the province identified billing as a key challenge, with most municipalities failing to provide an adequate and fair billing service to residents.
Pappas said councillors across the province were inundated monthly with complaints about incorrect and unfair municipal bills.
Key findings of the province-wide survey include; 47% of residents are receiving estimated bills, 26% of residents indicated that their water meters are never read, 29% of residents indicated that their electricity meters are never read, 28% of municipal self-reporting services do not work and19% of respondents have received an incorrect bill more than once, while 12% say every bill is wrong.
Further results from the survey show that 86% of residents claim that their municipality does not respond to their complaints efficiently and effectively; 52% say that their municipal dispute resolution processes do not work and; 71% indicated that they are not aware of any debt relief programme within their municipalities.
Daily News