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Residents of Mangaung Metro Municipality (MMM) continue to be unhappy over the estimated water accounts that they have been receiving since January. We can confirm that some of the water accounts received are between R 16,000 to the maximum amount of R 420,000 by a resident in Bloemfontein.

The residents have tried to raise their disputes with the office of the City Manager, but are frustrated that there is no documented process to raise disputes for water accounts on the MMM website. They have also raised their concerns with the accounts department, but these disputes are handled as general queries and estimated accounts received in previous months are not considered when accounts are recalculated.

The other option for residents is to file a complaint with the municipal ombudsman but this office has yet to be established since May 2022. This is due to the absence of political will from the ANC and the National Intervention Team.

The communications Manager, Qondile Khedama informed the public that prepaid water meters are now available. Residents then informed the DA that when they apply for prepaid meters, municipal staff would inform them that they need to be patient because there is a backlog of three years for prepaid meters. Informal settlements where water is unmetered will also be prioritised before prepaid meters are installed in other suburbs.

Mchiliteni Fofota Investments was awarded the tender for the procurement of water meter reading services and conventional and prepaid meters for the available budget of R 4,299,598.46. During a council meeting held on 29 January, we asked what the Service Level Agreement (SLA) entails but Khedama informed the DA that the SLA is a confidential document and cannot be provided.

The DA will now submit a Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) application to the office of the City Manager requesting the following information between Mchiliteni Fofota Investments and MMM:

The Request for Quotation documentation for MMM/BID 685: 2023/2024 PROCUREMENT OF WATER METER READINGS SERVICES (CONVENTIONAL AMR & PREPAID METERS), CLEANING OF WATER METERS AND METER AUDIT SERVICES AS THE NEED ARISES; FOR A PERIOD LINKED TO THE MTREF UPON THE AWARD;

Minutes and recordings of the meetings held of the Bid Specification Committee (BSC), Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) and Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC) for the MMM/BID 685; and

The Service Level Agreement signed by the contractor and MMM.

The DA is committed to an open, opportunity and free society for all. For the past 30 years residents of Mangaung paid the price for maladministration through cadre deployment and maladministration. The DA urges residents to vote for the DA in the upcoming National and Provincial elections to stop corruption and tenderpreneurs from becoming millionaires for services not rendered.

Issued by Dirk Kotze - DA Councillor Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality