Africa-Press – Botswana. Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) is owed P16.3 million outstanding debt in Chobe District as at end of May.
Addressing the Chobe District Full Council sitting yesterday, the council chairperson Mr Johane Chenjekwa said this debt experienced a 10 per cent upward movement from P14.6 million reported in February. He stated that in a bid to collect these outstanding amounts, WUC had embarked on a robust mass disconnection campaign of all customers owing the corporation since December 2024.
He pointed that the disconnections effected concurrently with the national debt amnesty campaign, which offered customers a 50 per cent debt reduction for all invoices older than December 2024 with stipulated terms and conditions. The chairperson encouraged the community, businesses, and government departments to pay water bills on time as well as use the self-service platforms available for payment.
On a positive note, Mr Chenjekwa briefed that the water supply from the new Kasane Water Treatment Plant had been stable since the beginning of the year, adequately meeting the demand for all the eight villages in the region. He said no incidences of major water supply interruptions were experienced in Kasane and Kazungula except for the Chobe Enclave West villages, which were at times affected by loss of storage due to sporadic power cuts from Nampower in Namibia. Mr Chenjekwa revealed that there was an incident of discoloured water experienced in Plateau in March and April due to the cleaning of the Plateau booster service tanks, which was subsequently resolved.
The chairperson stated that Kasane and Kazungula continued to face challenges of wastewater spillages due to malfunctioning system equipment and discarding of non-friendly foreign objects into the waste water system. He indicated that foreign objects were the main causes of blockages, which were often experienced in many cases hence implored councilors and other leaders to raise awareness and educate the community against the habit of discarding foreign objects into the sewer system.
Councillor Chenjekwa said WUC continued to engage the community in outreach activities, Kgotla meetings, primary and junior secondary schools interactions designed to disseminate information on the correct use of this sewerage system. He said the outreach interactions are meant to educate the public to ensure that the public understood how the sewage system works hence desist from tampering with it. He said in an endevour to alleviate wastewater spillages in Kasane, the corporation has planned projects such as diversion of treated wastewater away from Hot Springs to behind Shoprite as the new discharge point.
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