The time has come for mayors and municipal managers’ salaries to be suspended at municipalities where water and other services are cut due to non-payment, said Dr. Pieter Groenewald, leader of the FF Plus.
Dr. Groenewald said it’s very unfair to residents who regularly pay for their water and services, to be punished with non-payers and senior officials who are incapable of doing their jobs.
Arrear water debt at municipalities across South Africa is almost R6,8 billion, according to department statistics, and the Minister of Water Affairs, Nomvula Mokonyane, threatens to cut water from the municipalities.
According to Dr. Groenewald, the same situation played against him earlier this year with no power when municipalities total outstanding debts for service fees amounted to more than R110 billion while the government did not do anything about it.
“The ANC must assume full responsibility for the situation as this party has begun the culture of default and further worsened the delivery of services with the appointment of poor and unauthorized officials.”
“I wrote a letter to Mokonyane, requesting her to reconsider her department’s proposed cuts of overdue municipalities as it would be unfair to payers and unconstitutional.”
“If salaries of mayors and municipal managers are retained, they will start to work and ensure that service fees are paid, and that service providers are paid,” said Dr. Groenewald.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
