The City of Windhoek remains unmoved by a recent petition delivered by the Katutura Residents Committee. The residents took to the streets a fortnight ago to air their frustrations with high utility bills and the municipality’s use of Red Force to collect debt.
Contained in their petition were allegations that many households in Katutura have been without running water and electricity because of the suspension of these services by the municipality over debt. After a failed march to the City offices, when Windhoek mayor Joseph Uapingene did not show up to receive the petition, the group took the matter to the line minister, Erastus Uutoni, asking for his intervention.
They expressed a loss of trust in the leadership and council of the City of Windhoek. On Tuesday, City deputy mayor Magdalenda Lombardt called a media briefing.
Flanked by administrative executives, Lombardt was adamant that the City of Windhoek has the mandate to suspend services to recover outstanding debts.
“The fees, charges, or other monies due to the Council in respect of any service, amenity, or facility supplied to the premises in terms of the Act, inclusive of any availability charge or minimum charge leviable under Section 30, whether it relates to a service rendered in terms of these regulations or not, are not paid by a consumer before the expiry of the last day for such payment specified in the account. The Council may forthwith suspend the supply of electricity to such consumers until the amount due is paid by the consumer, together with the charges referred to in subregulation.”
Lombardt did not address the issue of the City using estimates on water to bill individual accounts.
She instead attributed this matter to leakages in pipes and encouraged residents to make use of the SMS system for self-metre readings in order to monitor consumption and detect possible leakages.
Another thorn in the flesh, which is not unique to the City, is the widespread use of debt collection agencies such as Red Force by local authorities. The appointment of Red Force has been condemned on several occasions. The appointment of Red Force to collect debts on behalf of the City is deemed more financially viable, the deputy mayor explained.
And its acting CEO, Faniel Maanda, says the relationship between the debt collection agency and the City is a contractual one and will remain in force. The City also announced that it is currently working on a proposal to write off the debt of pensioners and interest on the accounts of all residents. However, they cautioned that this process will have to be executed carefully to ensure long-term sustainability. Spokesperson of the Katutura Residents Committee, Shaun Gariseb, says the City’s political and administrative leadership is “clutching on straws.”
He described Lombardt’s response as selective, laughable, embarrassing, and very disappointing. He accused the deputy mayor of putting her focus only on pensioners with the hope of appeasing one section of the community while ignoring eight of the group’s recommendations.
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