Is our Muni being just a little rash?

You are in for a big shock if your property has a prepaid electricity meter and you’re blissfully unaware of this; because you have until close of business today to hand your contact details and prepaid meter number to the Makana Finance Department (see story in these pages).

A notice from Makana was recently circulated on social media, reminding residents they needed to hand in those details by 3pm Friday 29 September, with failure to do so leading to blocking of the account, and attracting a reconnection fee of R428.08. Grahamstown’s social media scene has been predictably vociferous. Some residents even accused of the municipality of trying to climb out of its enormous financial hole by creating spurious fines and fees.

Theatrics aside, Makana residents might feel a tad aggrieved by the manner in which the issue of the pre-paid meters has been handled. Apparently, ward councillors were given hundreds of printed notices to distribute some time ago. And certainly, there has been a lot of speculation about the matter on social media. But the most effective way to communicate with clients (because Makana residents are clients of the municipality if they buy electricity), is directly to them. This means finding a way to letting the residents know, not once, but repeatedly over a period, about an impending change, etc. The municipality has records of all residents with accounts. These records have mobile phone numbers which can be used to send bulk sms notices of the kind often utilised by Rhodes University and the private schools.

It’s not enough to argue that perhaps Makana has not or did not use the new information communications technologies. These ICTs exist and they are being used in our town. If the municipality avoided taking this route because of concerns about cost, we have to wonder how much ink, paper and toner it took to make the notices the Ward Councillors were supposed to distribute.

Such a gap in communication infuriates residents, who are already frustrated by municipal failures in other areas – including roads full of potholes, unlit streets and the ubiquitous presence of cattle almost everywhere except on the farms!

Residents want to feel like they are listened to both by political leadership and the bureaucracy at Makana. Otherwise, the great strides made at dialogue over the past few months will be lost.