Rand Water still ‘struggling’ with two defaulting municipalities as some sign agreements

Rand Water has singled out Emfuleni and Govan Mbeki as municipalities it is “struggling” with as it tries to recoup more than R3bn owed to it by seven defaulting municipalities in Gauteng, the Free State and Mpumalanga.

The entity however, confirmed it had reached agreements with some defaulters to settle their bulk water purchase bills nearly a month after it started restricting supply to Merafong and Ngwathe — which owed Rand Water more than R800m at the time.

This comes after AfriForum's urgent application for an interdict against Rand Water's decision was dismissed on Tuesday.

AfriForum had asked the Pretoria high court to order Rand Water to restore full water supply to the affected municipalities.

It said Rand Water’s decision to reduce water supply — even though it might be driven by operational or financial constraints — had far-reaching implications for the affected communities. 

The application was dismissed after the restrictions on both municipalities were lifted before this week's hearing.

AfriForum was, however, given permission to “apply to this court again if any of the transgressions as set out in the founding affidavit and in the notice of motion is executed by Rand Water”.

Rand Water, in a statement confirming the failed application, took issue with AfriForum's claim that the court had prohibited it from implementing these restrictions.

“There is nothing from the court order in terms of which Rand Water was prevented from implementing its credit control measures. AfriForum’s statement is misleading the public, who it seeks to encourage not to carry out their obligations to pay for water services that they receive from the respective municipalities,” spokesperson Makenosi Maroo said.

She said the credit control measures had been paused amid negotiations with the defaulting municipalities.

“We've been negotiating with all the municipalities that owe us. Some of them did sign agreements, some of them didn't. Ngwathe and Merafong did sign,” she said.

Maroo declined to name those that had not signed yet because “we are still negotiating with them”. She also confirmed that the three Gauteng metros were all up to date with their payments.

“I think it would be unfair to mention them and then they decide to sign today [for example]. The biggest municipalities giving us problems are Emfuleni and Govan Mbeki but I think Emfuleni is one that is really giving us a hard time,” she said.

Maroo also weighed in on Emfuleni's surprise at its inclusion in the list of defaulting municipalities, especially since the municipality and entity were working to establish a “special vehicle entity” to help improve water supply, revenue collection and deal with leaks.

This was after the water and sanitation department, which took over water and sanitation services in the municipality, appointed Rand Water as the implementing agent of this intervention.

“We are still supplying them with water, so the expectation is that 'you will receive a service and pay for it' even though we are assisting them as Rand Water. It does not stop them from paying for the service they are receiving,” she said.

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