Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Keetmanshoop municipality is currently standing with an accumulative water bill of N$157 million after over 7,000 of its residents defaulted on their monthly utility payments.
As a result of the hefty bill recorded at the end of August 2021, the municipality has decided to cut water supply to thousands of residents who are in arrears.
Defaulter, however, took to the streets and held a peaceful demonstration to plead with the municipality to refrain from abruptly cutting water supply because it impinges on their basic right to access clean water, especially during the pandemic when so many of them are struggling financially.
Dawn Kruger, a spokesperson of the municipality, explained that the debt book of the Keetmanshoop municipality for August 2021 stood at N$157 million as a result of nonpayment by 7,009 debtors.
She, however, added that there is a total 1,880 active debtors with a zero balance, which means only those people pay their monthly accounts on time. Kruger further stated that the decision to cut off the water supply was a last resort as the municipality gave residents over three years to settle their bills.
“The municipality introduced an SMS and an email notification systems in 2019 to remind customers early about their municipal account that is due. When the debt started escalating we even started with public notices and weekly radio talks. We held public meetings at the beginning of this year when COVID-19 allowed and expressed the gravity of the situation to our residents, but to no avail. We send demand letters, we called, we emailed. Personally I’ve done numerous radio and television interviews and talks with the same plea time and time again, but with the same results,” Kruger explained.
Kruger added that the town’s residents are arguing that most of them have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “People lost their jobs or their income decreased. In some cases the breadwinners fell victim to COVID-19. The municipality is cognizant of all these devastating facts, that is why we responded immediately when we were called upon by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development in March 2020 to provide access to water to those residents without water in order to fight COVID-19,” Kruger explained. She stated that as a result of the opening of taps, a lot of the town’s residents decided to stop paying for water all together.
“Our NamWater account fell into arrears. At that point the municipality stepped up attempts to recover the money, but to no avail. We entered into a repayment agreement with NamWater, but due to short payments by residents, we could not keep our end of the deal. On the insistence of NamWater, the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development wrote to all local authorities telling them to enforce their credit policies clarifying that the March 2020 directive was only meant for vulnerable people. So, it was clear that the ministry was not going to rescue us from this situation,” said Kruger.
Kruger states that Namwater informed the municipality that the situation is untenable and that they will put the municipal bulk supply meter on prepaid.
“This left us with no other option but to disconnect the water supply to defaulting customers,” Kruger concluded.
