An amnesty on illegal water connections has helped the eThekwini municipality collect more than R4 million since its introduction.
|||Durban - An amnesty on illegal water connections has helped the eThekwini municipality collect more than R4 million since its introduction.
The policy, implemented in March 2010, lets homeowners who are connected illegally have their connections reinstated provided they contact the municipality before it discovers the illegal connection.
In a report tabled before the city’s human settlements and infrastructure committee this week, the head of the water and sanitation unit, Neil Macleod, said that by July 1, R628 500 had been recovered in meter connection fees and revenue that had been recouped based on prosecutions alone was standing at R4 097 030.67.
A total of 2 514 households had applied for the water amnesty and of those 2 434 connections had been completed and 80 were in progress, Macleod said.
Five permanent water inspectors who started on June 3 had been employed to step up the campaign against illegal water connections and seven more inspectors were still to be recruited.
“The customers are still encouraged to come forward and declare their illegal connections and take advantage of the water amnesty by paying the R250 regularisation fee,” he said.
Macleod said those who failed to come forward would face court action, fines, penalities and would pay back charges, which usually amount to about R10 000.
Councillor Nigel Gumede, chairman of the committee, said there was a need to reconsider disconnections as they sometimes affected the disabled and the elderly.
Macleod, however, said people having their water meters removed had either tampered with their meters or connected water illegally.
“They are the ones who are costing us R300 million a year,” he said.
However, Macleod said if a business owed the city, it would be disconnected.
mpume.madlala@inl.co.za
Daily News