Business as usual in city
THE PLANNED city-wide shutdown did not go ahead yesterday, with all roads in the city remaining open to traffic.
The protest organisers were quick to point out, however, that the shutdown had not been called off entirely.
“Once the shutdown takes place all main roads leading into Kimberley will be closed, so the impact will be immense. Residential roads will not be affected and pupils will be able to write their exams. Kimberley will be shut off from the rest of South Africa as no one seems to be interested in resolving our service delivery problems. Instead, people are being bullied into paying debt that cannot be explained, and those with means are told their debt will be scrapped,” one of the protest organisers, who did not want to be identified for fear of being victimised, said.
The spokesperson for the Department of Education, Geoffrey van der Merwe, stated that schooling as well as the matric exams continued “as normal” yesterday.
Disgruntled community members said, at a meeting in Galeshewe on Sunday, that they were doubtful whether the special council meeting to release the Section 106 report into irregularities at Sol Plaatje Municipality would proceed on Thursday.
“There is high probability that Thursday’s meeting will not sit, so that by Friday council will have not sat for more than 90 days, thereby prompting for its dissolution in order for it be placed under administration.”
The Sol Plaatje Community Forum is meanwhile querying why a residence in Radebe Street, Galeshewe is being billed twice in the same month.
Suspended
“The one bill for rates and taxes is to the value of R28 255.79, while another account addressed to another account holder at the same address is for an amount of R34 809.61. This is while the electricity supply has already been suspended.
“We believe that Sol Plaatje Municipality’s R67 million debt to Eskom is not an accurate reflection. The community will not allow the cutting of electricity to 8 000 households when there is a selective implementation of debt recovery on certain households while other households and government departments are exempt from paying for services.”
The forum also questioned why the debt collection agency that was appointed by Sol Plaatje Municipality had set up office at the municipality when its head office was situated in Gauteng.
“The debt collector is shadowing municipal staff. It is not clear if they are really collecting debt or if the work is being done by the municipal staff and they are simply collecting payments from the municipality as indicated in the minutes of a council meeting.”
Spokesperson for Sol Plaatje Municipality, Thoko Riet, invited any municipal account holder to approach their offices to resolve any issues.
She explained that the debt collection agency, New Integrated Credit Solutions (NICS), was appointed to assist with the recovery of debts that were older than 60 days. “They are renting office space at the municipality.”
Riet also explained that the agency was shadowing staff as part of the process of skills transfer.
“The service provider is imparting their knowledge and processes so that we may update our internal processes and knowledge with the market-best practice.”
She advised customers with balances in arrears on their municipal accounts to contact the credit control section or their service provider, NICS, so make suitable arrangements to avoid the suspension of services and or restore their electricity supply.