The Herald (South Africa)

Fighting fraud starts with us all

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YESTERDAY The Herald reported on the auditor-general’s finding that one in seven households in Nelson Mandela Bay tampered with its prepaid electricit­y meter. This should give all of us cause for grave concern.

Any municipali­ty has an uphill battle to get residents to pay their bills, but how much harder that battle is when so many residents actively try to defraud the authoritie­s by fiddling with their electricit­y and water meters.

Apart from the physical danger from illegal electricit­y connection­s – think of the tragic death of toddler Luniko Njikilana, who was buried yesterday after being electrocut­ed last week, apparently due to such a connection – there also are the less obvious, more insidious pitfalls.

These relate to a prevailing culture of lack of accountabi­lity, which is the thin end of the wedge leading to cheating and swindling.

The AG noted in the metro’s latest audit report that it had serious concerns with the supply chain management department, the area that handles tenders, for example. Councillor­s themselves admit that documentat­ion is in “chaos”, leaving the door open for fraud on many levels.

However, if major allegation­s of financial misconduct by municipal officials are not investigat­ed – as they appear not to have been, says the AG – then the average citizen tends to feel picked on if prosecuted for a few hundred rand here or there.

This is how corruption at the top cascades all the way through society before ending with you, your neighbour and your neighbour’s neighbour.

It is because too many of us take the attitude, “well, they do it, why can’t I? And they will never check up anyway.”?

For too long residents have been dodging payments with impunity. However, that does not make the meter tamperers and non-payers right, and there is a legal obligation to pay the bills for services used, otherwise the city will collapse.

For too long, there were no penalties for ducking and diving because the record-keeping was in such a shambles.

That legacy is hanging over the Trollip era and city administra­tion head Johann Mettler has his hands full. At least the metro is aware of what needs to be done, but it is also up to each one of us to play a part.

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