Forum threatens with legal action
THE Concerned Community Forum (CCF) has served Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) with a legal letter, calling for action to address water and sewage problems facing communities.
The authority has been given 30 days to respond.
In a CCF meeting last week, members complained about the non-availability of water and of sewage spillages.
The letter lists a litany of concerns, including the incorrect reading of water meters and the municipality not checking if meters were in a good condition to allow proper readings. The letter states that the manner in which calculations were being done, was not transparent for consumers to understand, and that the estimation of debt was not in line with services provided.
CCF and AfriForum chairman Willie Liebenberg said the letter was an introduction to legal action against CHDM for non-delivery of services. “We have got to a stage where we can not negotiate further. I have attended over 20 meetings since 2014 regarding water, sanitation and aging infrastructure but nothing has been done. Areas such as Sterkstroom, Molteno, Tarkastad have a problem of sewage leaks and of fresh water from burst pipes, which we have reported, but nothing has been done.
”The biggest problem is incompetent people who are probably not qualified to do what they are being paid for.”
CCF advisor and Ratepayers’ Association chairman Tokkie Deysel said they had been “begging” CHDM to do meter readings and deliver account statements. “The municipality refuses to communicate and their customer care line is handled by people who do not give feedback. We know it has not rained enough to fill the dams, but all we ask is to be informed when an area will have no water so we can prepare.”
CCF secretary Charmaine Jonk said no one wanted to take responsibility for what was going on in the municipality. “Tarkastad has a problem of fresh water leaks and we have complained about this. They can not continue to say that there is no water when water is wasted every day and there are areas where water is cut off for more than seven days.”
Border-Kei Chamber of Business Komani chairwoman and CCF member Adre Bartis said the
sewage problem had become a health risk. “I phoned the customer care line on Tuesday morning to report a sewage leak in Griffiths Street. The person I spoke to said she would get someone to attend to it. When I phoned an hour later, she said she was trying to get someone to check.
“If you call the customer care line about the non-availability of water you will be told that there is no water in the dams. It is like they have a standard answer on matters regarding water.”
Liebenberg said when the letter was delivered to the municipality on Thursday, management officials to whom the letter was addressed, were not available.
CHDM spokeswoman Thobeka Mqamelo confirmed receipt of the letter from lawyers of the CCF, listing issues of discontent, “some of which processes to address them are currently in place.”
Mqamelo said CHDM would send its detailed response through appropriate channels (the law firm representing CCF) in the stipulated time lines. The detailed response would be shared with the media.
“We can however highlight that we have shared planned processes pertaining to data cleansing with all our stakeholders, through meetings and the media. This, in a bid to ensure customer details are accurate. We have, through interaction with stakeholders, conceded that our billing needs to be more detailed for customers to understand what they are paying for. Importantly we have undertaken road shows throughout the district explaining that due to inaccuracies in data received on our taking back the water service, council resolved to put in abeyance historical debt until the cleansing process is complete.” CHDM’s mandate was to ensure delivery of water and sanitation services to the community with the obligation to fulfil said mandate. Any weaknesses in the system are being attended to. It is, therefore, unfortunate to insinuate an element of disregard to the plight of the community we serve. “