It has been described as no-man’s land, no man’s responsibility. Raising the question: Who does the Reahola hostel complex belong to?
Residents of this old mining complex have been bandied about as “belonging to” the Matjhabeng Local Council and the Reahola Association (dissolved by the Supreme Court). Reahola is being administered by Provincial Human Settlements.
After yet another electricity cut-off to the complex, angry residents picketed outside the municipal buildings in Stateway demanding that their services be reinstated on Wednesday, 19 March.
An urgent meeting to address the issues took place on Tuesday. The acting mayor, Cllr Hlobohang Mokhomo, attended. The finance department was present. A residents committee and the ward council, Cllr Estelle Dansey, also attended.
Dansey says everyone agrees to paying for services, and all the residents are willing to pay. The issue, however, is who and where do they pay and how will they receive accounts?
Only seven accounts are registered with Matjhabeng. Dansey says she suspects this is one account per block.
Residents insist that the individual units must be fitted with meters so that the individual readings can be received.
Dansey says there was a suggestion made that the 406 units pay a flat rate of R400 per month until the municipality can install the meters to every unit. “This way, at least, the municipality will get some money in and the debt will not just be written off.”
The acting chief financial officer (CFO), Lindsay William, said that the finance department is governed by a lot of policies and legislation, and they do not want to create audit findings by agreeing to a R400 flat rate payment. Williams told the meeting that she would do some research about whether this will be an acceptable payment arrangement in the interim.
A finance department employee confirmed that people are buying electricity, but the units are bypassed. He said only 52 units have bought electricity since April out of the 46 units. He said that these units only buy 20 to 50 electricity units every second or third month. According to him, 90% of the electricity meters in Reahola have been bypassed.
A representative of human settlements said that Reahola has been under investigation since 2019. More than 90% of the resident are not owners, only five people are rightful owners of their units. All the other units are owned by Reahola Association, which was dissolved in the High Court.
Dansey confirms that a follow-up meeting is scheduled. The electricity to Reahola has been restored in the interim.
You must be logged in to post a comment.