Keetmans municipality misses NamWater deadline

Keetmans municipality misses NamWater deadline Elizabeth Joseph



KEETMANSHOOP

The Keetmanshoop municipality has confirmed that its municipal debt to NamWater has escalated to just over $14 million. This was made public during a community meeting chaired by Keetmanshoop mayor, Maree Smit.

The water utility recently threatened that it will shut off the water supply of anyone who owes it.

In an invoice, NamWater urged the municipality to cough up at least N$3.5 million by Friday, 19 March, or risk the water supply being cut.

Meanwhile, the council said the unavailability of funds made it impossible for them to make a payment.

Keetmanshoop municipality CEO Desmond Basson clarified that it was an ordinary invoice, not a threat.

"The ministry told us that we are not allowed to cut the water of the residents in case of an emergency. This is something that has been known to Keetmanshoop. The people were given time to sort out their payments due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that is what made the amount rise to such magnitude," the CEO said.

Apply pressure

"We take note of the challenges you are facing under the Covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, a huge number of our customers have been defaulting on their accounts," NamWater’s invoice read.

Since the invoice was issued, no services to the town have been cut.

Basson said they will have to apply more pressure on residents to pay their bills so that the situation is sorted out as soon as possible, but added that “nothing is guaranteed”.

The CEO last week sent out a memo to the municipality’s finance department, imploring them not to disconnect residents' services as some council members, including Smith, expressed dismay that they were not informed about the deadline for the suspension of services.

"The meeting agreed that the administration should continue to exert pressure on the residents to pay without disconnecting the services," the memo read.

The municipality will further target ministries and businesses with huge outstanding debt, he said.

Efforts to get comment from NamWater went unanswered.