Rehoboth without water againThe Rehoboth town council has sprung into action following pressure from NamWater and has started disconnecting the water supply of residents that are in arrears.
This comes four days after NamWater had disconnected water supply to the entire town for failing to settle long-overdue bills.
Rehoboth’s water supply was restored after the town council made a N$6.3 million payment to NamWater last week. The town had been without water for close to 48 hours because of non-payment.
The council owes the water utility about N$36 million in historical debt, plus an outstanding current account of approximately N$2 million, which will be settled under a strict repayment plan.
However, on Monday, residents with unpaid municipal bills woke up to a nasty surprise when council employees started disconnecting their water supply.
The municipality’s chief executive, Christophe /Uirab, told Namibian Sun that residents are free to arrange for instalments if their accounts are too high to pay in one go.
“My water was also cut off because I am renting and my landlord had not paid, but he made some payments so it is restored now. But, yes, it is happening, the finance department is mandated to disconnect if a person does not pay their water account,” said /Uirab.
He said the council will have no sympathy with those who do not pay their accounts.
“I am only concerned with the money that is generated and how it will be used. My only concern is that the money is used to pay NamWater, that is all that I am concentrating on now,” he said. Last week /Uirab said there was a problem in the municipality’s finance department and it would be urgently addressed.
“There is no proper planning in order to make sure these types of situations do not happen,” he said.
JEMIMA BEUKES