Residents of Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats are still hoping to have their exorbitant water bills scrapped.
The communities of iLitha and Khulani Park showed the SABC bills valued at hundreds of thousands of rands.
Last week, they staged a protest which disrupted health services and schooling to highlight their plight.
After an agreement with City of Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato, they could be one step closer to having issues resolved.
Resident Ntombi Sandula is at her wits’ end. Her water was cut off in December after she failed to pay her account of over R130 000. She made a payment of R5 000 in the hope it would help, but the water was cut any way.
For the past months, Sandula’s had to rely on her neighbours for water. She is one of several residents demanding their bills be scrapped.
“When they come to us as the City of Cape Town people, they say to us when they put that new meter; it would allow our water and we’ll start fresh, but that never happened. They put the new meter and the water is still going up even though they closed my water, but the bill is still going up. I don’t know how.”
According to the community, one resident faces a bill of over R1.8 million. They say the billing system is grossly ineffective.
On Tuesday, an agreement was reached in which a residents’ committee will collect all the necessary information.
Residents Committee Chairperson, Bishop Derek Mtsolo, says that they will monitor people’s bills.
“We’ll make sure each and every one brings their bills to us and then we’ll monitor and then we asked the mayor also to give us someone who is superior in his office to come and meet with us day by day, in order for us, actually, to resolve this issue.”
Plato says the city will rely on the information provided by the community.
“I need to look at each and every person’s account individually to address it individually, and even up to yesterday, when I received phone calls that there’s problems in iLitha Park. I said to some of the leadership, ‘but forward me the information so that I can help.'”
While residents were happy with meeting the mayor, they are keen on a speedy resolution.
