30 Jul 2025

As today marks the end of Water Utilities Corporation’s Debt Amnesty Campaign programme, the corporation’s general manager for Francistown, Mr Modisaotsile Keetile has encouraged customers to come forth and take advantage of the programme to pay their debts at reduced cost. 

Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, he raised concerns about the slow response of customers in terms of payment.  “Taking Francistown as an example, the target was around P85 million, with the expectation that half of that amount would apply. 

However, as of July 24, it shows that only P15 million worth applied for amnesty, which means only P6 million is expected to be paid,” he said.  Mr Keetile confirms that debt amnesty campaign programme purposed to assist corporation’s customers pay water bill debts discounted by 50 per cent comes to an end tomorrow. He said amnesty was initially planned for three months, from April 2025 to June 2025, to cater for customers with debts up to December 2024 and earlier.

However, he said that due to Batswana flocking their offices on the last day, they extended the campaign twice; first from June 30 to July 18, and then again until July 31, 2025, to accommodate everyone who wanted to apply for the amnesty.

Explaining the debt amnesty, Mr Keetile  said customers first applied and then received an amount reduced by 50 per cent, adding that a customer was then expected to pay half of the reduced amount instantly, while the remaining was payable over a period of three months. ENDS