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The Democratic Alliance in uMgungundlovu notes the reduction in the proposed water tariff increase from 75% to 50% that was presented on Friday at the Executive Committee.

The first level tariff will go from R14.69 to R22.04 per unit. A R1 000 water bill will now be R1 500. Full council will sit on 27 May 2022 to finally approve the budget and tariff.

We appreciate that some reduction has been done at this point, but still consider the tariff increase extremely high in the current economic circumstances. Residents are facing large increases in petrol, diesel, gas, food, transport and electricity. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is at 4.8%. How can the district council expect people to pay this excess percentage increase? Six out of ten water customers do not pay their accounts, and 57% water is not billed at all.

The solution cannot be to simply lay the problem at the door of the residents instead of resolving the internal inefficiencies. This will ultimately harm the municipality more, by creating an even worse bad debt problem, where residents genuinely cannot pay.

With the tariffs being changed so often at this late stage in the budget process, meaningful public participation is not possible. Public participation should be the cornerstone of local government – yet days before the budget being approved by full council, the management are still desperately trying to get a funded budget finalised.

The district municipality is in a very difficult position, with years of mismanagement, internal inefficiencies and general political interference, especially in the area of debt collection areas coming to a head. Without this massive tariff increase, the municipality would not be able to produce a credible, funded budget and that would run the risk of having the equitable share from national government withheld, as has been warned many times in correspondence from National Treasury. That will mean R700 million withheld, which would collapse the municipality.

For years, the DA has called for intervention from the province as this is the only way to get the municipality onto an even keel, so our residents do not become the only option to rescue this municipality.

Issued by DA uMgungundlovu District Caucus Leader, Councillor Hazel Lake