The OR Tambo district authority is offering huge discounts on water bill arrears until July.
This is both part of a Covid-19 debt relief programme and a revenue enhancement strategy aimed at recouping more than R427m in unpaid water service bills, said municipal spokesperson Zimkhita Macingwane.
The four-month grace period will see consumers — both residents and business entities — with a good payment track record offered a 12% discount on current debts while those who make arrangements to settle older debts within a month will get 60% off.
Consumers who opt to settle over two months will be afforded a 55% discount, over three months 50% and over four months 45%.
There will be forms signed by the consumer binding them to the terms of the agreement and the amnesty will not take effect until the form is signed
But Macingwane said the offer was subject to terms and conditions.
“There will be forms signed by the consumer binding them to the terms of the agreement and the amnesty will not take effect until the form is signed,” she told the Dispatch on Thursday.
“Where the consumer fails to honour the arrangement, the amnesty falls away and the full amount on the debt is payable. By applying this amnesty it is anticipated people will be motivated to pay their outstanding debts plus their monthly bills.”
They hoped 85% of households, businesses and NGOs would take up the offer.
“It is highly probable that more than R427m could be recovered."
The initiative follows a council resolution on February 28.
As of January 31, residents owed OR Tambo R383m for water, government departments owed more than R71m and public and private schools nearly R36m.
Businesses owed more than R119m.
The new amnesty will be extended to businesses, ratepayers and NGOs with respect to debts between 30 days and five months old.
Meanwhile district authorities are engaging with state departments that owe money for water through intergovernmental relations platforms.
Macingwane said the resolution came as a result of job losses due to the Covid pandemic. As a result, some consumers had received their bills late. She said at the moment, the district municipality received most of its funding through grants but it hoped to generate its own income through this initiative.
This is not the first time OR Tambo ratepayers have been offered amnesty on arrears. Macingwane said the problem back then was that people did not take up the opportunity.
Mayor Thokozile Sokanyile will this time criss-cross the district until the end of March, holding public participation sessions to explain the new initiative.
The debt relief programme will then come into full effect in April.
Eastern Cape business chamber president Vuyisile Ntlabati, who has a firm in Mthatha, said the umbrella body welcomed the initiative.
He said many consumers, particularly business owners, had defaulted on water bills while they were forced to shut their doors during the months of national lockdown. Some had closed down permanently.
It's beautiful. Many people will be able to pick up on whatever payment option suits them financially
“It's beautiful. Many people will be able to pick up on whatever payment option suits them financially.”
Ntlabati, however, criticised the district authority for its poor billing system, saying he had not received an invoice from them yet this year.
Mthatha ratepayers & residents association spokesperson Madyibi Ngxekana, while happy that the initiative would be properly explained to them, accused authorities of “thumbsucking” amounts owed.
“They have not done any billing for three years, so where do they get those figures? How do they know how much each person owes?”
He said instead of rushing to offer amnesties they should rather explain how they calculated each person's debt first.
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