Jerking mayor’s chain to pay water bill

A NORTHERN KwaZulu-Natal mayor is holding on to his mayoral chain for fear it could be attached by the sheriff to settle unpaid bills.

The uMkhanyakude district municipality in Mkuze is scrambling to pay a R1.1-million debt to ensure that mayor Solomon Mkhombo can keep his chain.

This comes after the High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled in favour of geological specialists Engeolab.

The municipality appointed Engeolab in February 2014 to investigate the feasibility of drilling boreholes to alleviate a water crisis in the drought-stricken area.

In August and October 2014 the company drilled boreholes at Hlabisa and Mtubatuba and compiled hydrological reports.

Engeolab charged the municipality R3 880 772.94. This year R1 168 023.88 was still outstanding. After failing to recover the money, the company took the municipality to court, resulting in the high court ruling.

A sale-in-execution notice last week listed 98 assets to go under the hammer on December 8 in Empangeni. Among these were a Toyota Prado, two Toyota Quantums, office furniture and electronic equipment.

The municipality’s communications manager, Mduduzi Dlamini, said the municipality had begun the process of settling the amount owed to Engeolab before the auction date.

“We are going to pay from the water services infrastructure grant from DWS [Department of Water and Sanitation], which is already in our account. We received the grant last month,” he said.

The municipality was placed under administration in October last year. It has been the subject of various forensic investigations and its performance has been under scrutiny by the provincial government.

In July the Sunday Times reported that water pipes it bought for R146-million had been unused for more than three years. The pipes were just lying around.

Engeolab MD Paul Hansmeyer said: “Once work was completed the payment was not honoured. I’d like to see payment before the auction.”