Sol Plaatje municipality threatens to cut services

The Sol Plaatje Municipality has threatened to cut services to certain department buildings because of monies owed.

Municipal spokesperson Sello Matsie said, “The reality is that without the income from these services it will be difficult to run the municipality. We need the money in order for us to continue.”

A R590 million rates and taxes bill is owed to the Northern Cape’s Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley by the provincial Public Works department and has become a source of dispute between the two parties.

A large portion of the bill is attributed to the new mental health hospital which has accrued a debt of about R150 million.

Public Works chief director Onkemetse Gill said the bill is over-inflated and singled out the municipality’s yearly tariff increase as problematic.

Gill said, “The biggest problem with this bill is the dispute that we’ve been lodging year in and year out to explain that we really do not understand. We only took practical completion of mental health this year so how did we then accrue such huge bill.”