Defaulting municipalities settle parts of unpaid water bills
The Water Department says it's encouraged by the response of some of the municipalities who had outstanding debts of a combined figure of R10.7 billion.
It recently threatened to throttle water supply if debts were not paid.
It says since then, 25 of the 30 municipalities that were named as owing the most amount of money have come forward to either settle entire amounts or portions owed.
In KZN, the Zululand Municipality was said to owe R56 million. An urgent meeting was held between municipal and water department officials in a bid to keep taps running over Christmas.
The department's Sputnik Ratau says action is imminent for the municipalities that haven't approached the department.
"We have the five that have not made any means towards engaging with the department or the water board. With those, we will invoke what the National Water Act allows us to do. At the moment, we are looking at the reduction of the availability of water to those municipalities," he says.