Several residents of Mamelodi rushed to City of Tshwane Municipality offices this week to make payment arrangements and admit their guilt in tempering (bridging) municipal meters as requested by the City of Tshwane Municipality in terms of the debt relief programme.
Be that as it may, Mamelodi Concerned Residents for Service Delivery President Oupa Mtshwene decried the debt relief programme and insisted that it is bogus because it has many shortcomings and would therefore not succeed.
The firebrand Mtshwene highlighted the following points to substantiate his assertion:
1.The City of Tshwane Municipality must first sort out the issue of squatter camp dwellers who don’t pay for water and electricity services before demanding any payment from bona fide residents of Mamelodi most of whom live in old four-roomed houses.
2.Debt relief programme/ Amnesty won’t succeed as it lacks public participation.
3.Property valuation process is flawed as no physical inspection of households was conducted and the City of Tshwane relied on “guess work.”
4.City of Tshwane is using the “divide-and-rule” tactic by scrapping debts of homeowners whose property is worth less than R250 000 while the rest of the residents whose property is worth over R250 000 are expected to pay their debts.
5.The rent debt that the City of Tshwane Municipality is claiming from the residents of Mamelodi is based on estimations and is therefore illegal and must be declared null and void.
6.The billing system is faulty.
7.Residents are summoned to go and make payment arrangements by Councillors who themselves owe the Municipality rent.
8. Mayor Dr Nasiphi Moya has never come to meet the residents of Mamelodi and always sends her deputy Eugene Modise to Mamelodi.
9. The new meters will leave the unemployed without electricity for the whole month as they will have to wait until they get their R370 SRD grants before buying electricity.
10. Residents want a flat rate instead of estimations that are currently being used by the City of Tshwane Municipality.
According to Mtshwene, the whole debt relief programme is a way of punishing only the poor residents.
[caption id="attachment_9149" align="alignnone" width="720"]
Residents of Mamelodi in a queue to apply for amnesty
He said the issue of high-ranking Councillors who owe the Municipality hundreds of thousands of rands has been swept under the carpet and nothing is being said about it anymore.
“How can you for example expect a domestic worker to pay the same amount of money in terms of rent like the person who for instance works for the City of Tshwane Municipality?” asked Mtshwene.
Meanwhile, Tshwane Talks went to the City of Tshwane Mini Munitoria in Mamelodi to speak to residents who had gone there to make payment arrangements for their debts and resident Tshidi Mosetlha admitted that she has tempered with the Municipality’s meter for a long time now but hoped that she will be granted amnesty and be given the new meter which will make it easy for her to use electricity sparingly and know how much she has consumed.
Suzan Morekhu said she came to make arrangements on behalf of her mother who is an elderly person.
“We must admit that as residents we have wronged the government by tempering with the electricity meters but we are asking for amnesty so that we can start afresh,” said Morekhu.
A male resident told Tshwane Talks that though residents will be granted amnesty, there is no guarantee that residents won’t temper with the meters again.
A 58-year-old female resident said it would be right if the Municipality keeps its promise and revealed that she has been struggling for a long time now with the rent issue but was happy that she has made payment arrangements now and was close to finishing paying off her debt.
Yet another resident said she took time off from work to come and make payment arrangements and be granted amnesty.
Another male resident said there is corruption in the system of buying electricity because when he buys electricity he is always never given the amount of electricity that is equal to what he has paid for.
He also complained about estimations and said they are the cause of debt that the residents find themselves in today.
He pointed out that squatter camp dwellers don’t pay for Municipal services and that Municipal officials are the ones who steal cables and install them at squatter camps and squatter camp dwellers in turn pay money to the said officials instead of paying the Municipality.