Tshwane Deputy Mayor Eugene Modise is facing criticism for allegedly reneging on his promise to cancel outstanding municipal bills for residents struggling to pay them.
Tshepo Mahlangu, leader of the Lotus Gardens, Atteridgeville and Saulsville Civic Association (Lasca), claimed Modise, who is also the MMC of Finance, had publicly promised to cancel overdue municipal bills for residents.
Mahlangu has previously been at odds with the city, advocating for residents to boycott paying municipal services, which the city has condemned as irresponsible and unlawful.
“MMC of Finance, Councillor Eugene Modise, is on record stating that they will scrap our bills,” he said.
He said his civic organisation has made futile attempts to engage with the mayoral committee (Mayco).
“Officials are avoiding accountability because Mayco is also avoiding accountability,” he said.
Mahlangu threatened to mobilise residents from all seven regions to take a stand against the city if its leaders continue to ignore the plight of financially struggling residents.
“The people shall govern. Nothing for us without us. We will defy the municipality if they continue to violate the Municipal Systems Act and the Constitution of South Africa. Lasca will mobilise the residents of all seven regions to defy the municipality until our demands are met,” Mahlangu said.
Modise said: “What we have done as the city was to scrap debts of the Hammanskraal people amounting R600 million because for years, we have been giving them dirty water.”
He said residents of Ikageng in Mamelodi are also struggling with persistent water shortages.
“So, we are going to do due diligence and we are going to scrap their debts as well,” he said.
He said Mahlangu wanted the city to cancel debts by using a blanket approach, which is not feasible.
“The other thing that he is requesting is for people to have a flat rate payment system and that can’t happen,” he said.
He said the principle of paying according to one’s consumption must apply and that each resident must be billed based on their individual water usage, for example.
Modise revealed that during recent community meetings, many residents admitted to tampering with their water meters, citing they can’t afford to pay.
He said the city has adopted a more compassionate approach, taking into account the financial struggles of its residents.
For example, he said the standard penalty for those who have tampered with their meters is R29 000, but the city has reduced this to a baseline of R3 000.
“We are reasonable and we know the dynamics of our lives and the lives of our residents. If you don’t give them electricity, they will go and get it from somewhere,” he said.