25 Nov 2021

Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) has accumulated over P196m as water bill arrears for Selebi Phikwe/Francistown region.

Speaking during the Stakeholder’s forum in Selebi Phikwe on Wednesday, Selebi Phikwe WUC branch general manager, Mr Lucas Makepe said the largest share of the debt was from domestic use which made up 62 per cent, translating to about P121m.

Mr Makepe shared that government departments, council and the business community owed 19 per cent, 15 per cent and three per cent respectively, attributing the accumulation of debt to the state of public emergency which called for regular washing of hands to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

He urged all the defaulters to settle their bills by end of this year to avoid disconnection in January 2022. He further explained that failure to pay water bills had serious implications on the corporation’s effort to deliver on its mandate to supply urban, big and small villages with potable water and waste water management.

Touching on the prepaid pilot project, Mr Makepe said the project had challenges that still needed to be addressed before it could be rolled out to other areas.

The forum was aimed at updating stakeholders on the water sources performance, water trends and customer issues. Mr Makepe said the corporation found it imperative to constantly engage key stakeholders to give them an appreciation of products and services and their expected role as water users.

However, the corporation raised concern over vandalism of WUC infrastructure and waste water. WUC maintenance engineer Mr Thato Phindela appealed to members of the public to report any form of vandalism to the WUC infrastructure.

He said pipe vandalism mostly done by companies doing projects and customers watering livestock, meter vandalism, prepaid standpipe vandalism, theft of manhole covers and electric cables were common form of vandalism that affected WUC infrastructure.

Another challenge faced by the corporation was that of management of waste water of which WUC official Ms Goabaone Mongale explained that the WUC facilities were designed to treat domestic waste only.

She said it was challenging to deal with waste from industries, adding that it was an obligation of industries to sign an agreement with WUC to install a suitable pre-treatment facility. 

She said everyone had an obligation to reduce pollution to safeguard the ecosystem, prevent blockages of sewer pipes. 

Ms Mongale urged members of the public to report any form of pollution to WUC or relevant authorities. ENDS