Mokonyane Day Zero

MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 11: Minister Nomvula Mokonyane at the ANC National General Council on October 11, 2015 at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, South Africa. A number of resolutions were adopted at the ruling party’s 4th National General Council, including the introduction of lifestyle audits for public servants. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo)

Minister of Water and Sanitation to get tough on defaulting municipalities

Defaulting municipalities could cause a water crisis of their own.

Mokonyane Day Zero

MIDRAND, SOUTH AFRICA – OCTOBER 11: Minister Nomvula Mokonyane at the ANC National General Council on October 11, 2015 at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, South Africa. A number of resolutions were adopted at the ruling party’s 4th National General Council, including the introduction of lifestyle audits for public servants. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sowetan / Veli Nhlapo)

Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane has vowed to get tough on 30 defaulting municipalities in order to recover a water bill totalling R10.7 million before Friday, 8 December.

Speaking at a press briefing in Johannesburg on Monday, Mokonyane said failure to pay up before the deadline will result in the offending municipalities’ water supplies being completely cut off. Following such, the only way to restore the service will be acting towards settling the bill.

She explained that this measure is also a way for the department to generate new revenue.

“In order for us to provide water‚ there must be revenue coming in‚” she said

“What we are calling for‚ let’s go back basics. Take the end user as the most important person in this whole thing‚ be honest about how we are managing this precious resource from source to tap.”

Mokonyane also reiterated the various municipalities’ responsibility to provide water to the people they serve.

“We are saying to local government‚ we put the 25 litres per day for each person through your system as local government. It gets trapped in the systems and inefficiencies. We do not have control over (whether) the water reaches your tap.”

According to Mokonyane, the municipalities do not have to pay the entire amount they owe before the deadline and the door for negotiating a settlement is still open.

“We are saying commit to paying the current bill‚ and come to us to renegotiate the outstanding amounts‚” she said.

Also read: #CapeWaterCrisis: City of Cape Town considering water levy