The Free State government must do everything in its power to prevent possible water cuts due to municipalities’ non-payment to water boards. Water cuts are always equally serious, but now the festive season is upon us after an exceptionally difficult year with Covid-19.
The debt owed by municipalities, like the Mangaung Metro Municipality and the Matjhabeng Local Municipality, to Bloemwater and Sedibeng respectively literally amounts to billions.
Although municipalities' disputes about water debt with water boards are detrimental, ultimately, it is the residents who are mostly affected and negatively impacted by the ongoing problem.
History has taught us that water boards tend to reduce or cut off water supply at the most inconvenient times. It would be inhumane, particularly toward loyal paying residents, for water boards to implement such measures over the festive season in an attempt to collect outstanding debt.
The FF Plus will monitor the situation concerning the availability of water and outstanding debt and will do everything in its power to ensure that residents' constitutional right to have access to water is not denied.
As part of the FF Plus’s endeavour to ensure that people have access to water, the party sent an official letter to the Free State MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Skully Nxangisa, asking him to see to it that the water supply is not interrupted.
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