Gobabis to discontinue free water supply

The Gobabis municipality will discontinue the free water supply, introduced due to the state of emergency following the Covid-19 outbreak last year.

Gobabis mayor Elvire Theron, during a council meeting held on 29 April 2021, mentioned the council was discussing discontinuing the delivery of free water to Gobabis residents, as the state of emergency lapsed in September 2020.

The directives had been given by former minister of urban and rural development Peya Mushelenga in a letter addressed to all regional, town and village councils as well as municipalities in efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Gobabis municipality spokesperson Frederick Ueitele confirmed to Nampa on Sunday the municipal council has resolved that the provision of free water shall be discontinued, effective 31 May 2021.

He said all municipal account holders who benefited from these arrangements should settle their outstanding debts or make payment arrangements with the municipality’s finance department to avoid water disconnections as of 31 May 2020.

“About 186 formal houses and municipal account holders benefited from free water supply and 28 communal standpipes in the informal settlements also supplied free water to that community,” he said.

He said the 28 communal standpipes in the informal settlements will also revert to supplying water to residents who bought water tokens.

He urged residents in the informal settlement to buy their tokens, of which the price has been reduced from N$300 to N$200, he said.

Ueitele added the municipality suffered losses amounting to N$1.5 million due to the free water supply from April 2020 to December

2020, however stating that the figures for 2021 are not yet available.

“The financial impact on the municipality was very severe, as the council has to source funds elsewhere to pay the Namwater bill because the money collected for water was less than the Namwater account and central government did not reimburse the municipality as it was expected,” he explained.

Ueitele further indicated that the payment rate of water bills also declined, as some residents felt hard done due to other residents receiving free water while they had to pay for water.