Soweto residents are costing the City of Johannesburg just shy of R90 million annually because of unpaid water bills.<\/p>\n
According to Times Live<\/a>, the CoJ has collected a mere R9.1 million from the R100 million owed by 138,723 prepaid meters installed in Soweto.<\/p>\n It was revealed earlier this year, during the height of the Eskom electricity crisis, that Soweto residents owed as much as half of South Africa’s R8 billion electricity debt to Eskom.<\/span><\/p>\n Some of Soweto\u2019s residents said they felt entitled to free electricity as it was one of the things promised to them when the country gained democracy in 1994.<\/p>\n Times Live\u00a0<\/span>reported that Johannesburg Water has previously admitted that most of the meters have been illegally bypassed.<\/p>\n “To resolve this problem a weekly meeting has been scheduled, at which analysis of data is done, including progress on the bylaw enforcement (cut-offs),” a report, given to the city’s environment and infrastructure services committee, said.<\/p>\n “The poor performance for the year is attributed to project stoppages due to community hostility and poor performance from the contractors.”<\/p>\n Contractors installing the meters have been met with resistance by residents, as the CoJ has enforced bylaws to gain access to read meters and install new prepaid ones.<\/p>\n The water bill revelation is not new to Soweto. Six years ago, the Star<\/a> reported that residents owed the City of Joburg R452 million for water, while the council also admitted that it did not cut off non-paying residents.<\/p>\n Why Soweto residents want free electricity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n ANC promised Soweto free electricity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Eskom price hike will drive up theft and non-payment<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Soweto<\/h3>\n