Merafong in dire straits as half its water is lost to leaks and illegal mining
'The major contributions are non-recovery of revenue due to non-technical and technical water losses,' he said.
Mabuza said the persistently low revenue collection rate undermined the municipality's ability to service creditors, fund infrastructure maintenance, and meet operational obligations.
There were many broken meters that had not been replaced over the years, which had put a dent on the collection rate of the institution as these old meters result in inaccurate billing, and will require huge capital to replace in a short space of time, Mabuza said.
He told the committee that from October until last month, Rand Water reduced the bulk supply of water to the municipality by 20%.
This meant that some areas would end up with dry taps.
Mabuza said there were times when the utility did not issue public notices to the community about the lack of water, which led to a public outcry.
'The municipality urgently outsourced water tankers, which further severely hampered the cash flow of the municipality, with a cost of over R5m. The municipality is unable to keep up with monthly invoices due to revenue collection being inadequate to cover the R45m a month billed by Rand Water [for] debt. [The] Eskom bill also ranges between R40m and R83m per month, depending on summer or winter tariffs.'
Nelisiwe Ntlhola, director of municipal finance support in Merafong, told the committee that some of the root causes affecting revenue collection were unemployment, poverty and the influx of undocumented foreigners into the municipality.
'There is high unemployment in Merafong and high poverty, which is socioeconomically affecting the revenue of the municipality,' she said.
Ntlhola said the province should step in and help the municipality by identifying people who can afford to pay and those who cannot.
She said that after this profiling, the enforcement of collection should follow.
Ntlhola said there was a lack of support from law enforcement officials when it came to the crime associated with water losses from illegal mining.
DA MPL Solly Msimanga said the municipality has not had a proper maintenance plan, and this meant 'you are going to continue having losses'.
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