Zululand District challenges dept's water debt figure
The Zululand District Municipality is disputing the amount it owes in municipal water debt.
The northern KZN district is required to repay a little over R56-million.
Municipal manager, SB Nkosi says they're aware that they owe the Water and Sanitation Department money but says they shouldn't be paying for water abstraction.
"Actually, we are paying for abstraction charges. We abstract water from the White Umfolozi River on our own but because the department owns the river, it then charges us for the water we abstract from that river," he says.
The Minister has warned defaulting municipalities their supply will be turned off if they don't pay up by December 8.
ALSO READ: Defaulting municipalities to have bulk water supply cut: Department
Nkosi says the Zululand area's water infrastructure also makes it impossible to tally and collect utility bills from residents.
"In a rural set-up, you don't have metered consumption. Sometimes you provide water thorugh a standpipe and the entire community comes to collect water from the standpipe. As a result, it becomes difficult to measure the actual water that is being distributed as free water," he says.
Nationally, R10.7 billion unpaid water bills is outstanding with KZN recording R237 million.