Ceres residents claim their municipality has allegedly ignored their pleas for leniency to repay large amounts of money from their accounts that are in arrears.
According to EWN, several residents have been battling to pay their municipal bills since the beginning of the hard lockdown in March 2020.
This has caused the electricity meters of residents to be blocked. Meaning residents cannot buy electricity until they pay the amount due plus an additional fee for the block to be lifted.
GroundUp visited one of the locals, Francina Nero (55), who claims that her home had been without power for roughly 14 days, reports Opera News. Nero paid to have her power reconnected, and seven days later it was disconnected again.
“It was barely on for three days before it was blocked again. They don’t even give you a clear reason for why the electricity is being blocked, they just block it.”
With no electricity, Francina has been forced to prepare her meals on an open fire outside for nine people that she stays with. “Our neighbours complain about the smoke but we have to cook food for us and the children.” Once night falls, the group has to sit around the hot coals for heat as they cannot use any heaters.
57-year-old Aletta Jantjies from Bella Vista added that not one resident received any municipal accounts during the hard lockdown and nobody was sure about how much they owed.
Naomi Betana of the coalition confirmed that even though the mayor announced that a moratorium would be put in place for electricity disconnections, the municipality continued to disconnect the electricity from the homes of elderly people.
Meanwhile, Witzenberg municipal manager, David Nasson, said they do sympathise and understand what residents are going through, but the financial viability and sustainability of the municipality should be a priority too.
From July 31, 2021, the municipality had R225,955,405 in debt outstanding for 30 days or longer – including municipal services and property rates.
“There was a moratorium on credit control of all previously approved indigent customers whose subsidy period had lapsed.” Residents had been given until the end of August to renew their indigent applications, he said.
“It is the responsibility of account holders to visit municipal offices to apply for indigent support,” Nasson concluded.
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery