DURBAN - THE Msunduzi Municipality has dismissed allegations that it is selective when disconnecting residents who are in arrears for their services.
In a statement yesterday, it defended itself against accusations by opposition party councillors that its disconnection policy was not fair and targeted certain wards.
DA councillor Sibongiseni Majola said recently that certain wards were being targeted while the City turned a blind eye to many other wards that were not paying.
Areas such as Northdale and other northern suburbs have faced most of the enforcement action despite public evidence that other parts of the city are not paying for services such as water or electricity.
“There are wards I personally experienced and informed the municipality that residents there are not paying for services, but nothing has been done. But in other areas, if the residents are late one month, they are disconnected,” Majola said.
The same sentiments were expressed by ACDP councillor Rienus Niemand, who said he had taken the city leadership to areas where services were being stolen and nothing to date had been done.
In a statement warning about disconnections, the municipality said: “It must be noted that the municipality is not targeting certain areas. The disconnection of services will be carried out on all properties whose accounts are in arrears, be it schools, households, businesses or government departments.
“Municipal employees and councillors are not exempted and the process of docking their salaries to pay for their outstanding municipal debts has started,” it said.
“The reality is that the municipality cannot fall behind in terms of providing services and cannot continue to administer the City if consumers do not pay for the services that they consume.
“The municipality reiterates that it is undeterred in the quest to recover the billions owed and no effort will be spared to recover every cent.
“The municipality is appealing to the consumers to do the right thing and pay on time for services, noting that non-payment has a negative impact on service delivery,” it said.
THE MERCURY