City of tshwane
City of Tshwane looking into water supply interruptions, not sure of cause
The City said water levels at some of its reservoirs have plummeted after it received complaints of intermitted water supply from its customers.
The City of Tshwane said it approached the courts after Madibeng repeatedly failed to honour its commitments to pay a more than R250 million debt for bulk water supply.
The city launched the campaign in February, which targeted government departments, big business, employees and residential properties in an attempt to collect millions of rands in municipal debts.
The municipality was supposed to pay its debt by 17 June this year but finally paid it on Thursday instead.
Municipal tariff hikes kicked in on 1 July and with ratepayers having to fork out a little more for their services, many say they are battling to see the value for their hard-earned money. Municipalities say they are in a catch-22 situation, saying that non-payment affects service delivery.
Residents in the city have been complaining about the water quality, saying it was discoloured and smelly.
Residents in Bronkhorstspruit, Zithobeni and Rethabiseng expressed concern about the discolouration of the water in their areas.
Road and Transport MMC for the City of Tshwane, Dikeledi Selowa said the City cannot intervene in third party issues however she said it will assist where it can.
During his State of the City Address, Tshwane Mayor Randall Williams said that through the city's indigent programme, qualifying residents would also get a 100% rebate on the value of the property and refuse removal.
It's alleged a small group of workers affiliated to Samwu downed tools earlier this month but the union said this is simply not true.
Mayor Randall Williams launched the refurbishment project on Thursday after years of intermittent breakdowns and at least two fires which led to prolonged power outages in several communities in Pretoria East.
The metro is on a drive to recover the money from debtors, which include businesses, residential property owners and even government-owned property.
The city confirmed to Eyewitness News that the disconnection had nothing to do with its water or electricity account.
The city cut services to the Hatfield station, saying that the Gautrain owed it R10 million.
However, Gautrain said the Hatfield Station has a pre-paid electricity metre and the account was not only up to date but was in fact in credit to the value of about R120,000.
Big corporates, residential customers and even government departments have had their services cut off due to their failure to settle utility bills.
The metro has been cutting off water and electricity supply to several business and government departments whose accounts have been in arrears for more than three months.
The city said that some government departments, embassies, businesses and homeowners who owe millions in unpaid utility bills had now started making payments to the metro.
The city is owed around R17 billion in rates, power and other services.