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DURBAN – KwaZulu-Natal’s Angry Taxpayers Demand Answers
Residents living in the Msunduzi and eThekwini municipalities say they have been billed excessively high amounts for electricity, without any explanation.
Pietermaritzburg resident Feroz Rassol wants the Msunduzi billing system removed.
Rassol says the municipality has been charging him based on estimates, without reconciling his account.
This is affecting your pocketbook.
“Eventually when they have to go back and reconcile this account, it will hurt them,” Rassol said.
“It’s totally against the statutes, for four years are you estimating? But what power do we have, what can I do, I can’t do anything, I just have to sit here and pay for it.”
READ: Cape Town to lower water rates
Rassol says the municipality is also illegally billing him for another property that he had asked to be disconnected and is now seeking legal action.
“The bills continue, I even personally returned to fill out another disconnection form,” he said.
Residents of the Mbali municipality in Pietermaritzburg are also angry.
A 79-year-old woman living alone has been slapped with a bill of more than 100,000 rand.
“How am I going to pay? Do I have to use the money that the government is giving me to pay this debt? Margaret Radebe, a resident of Msunduzi, asked.
“I can’t pay this debt. I’m retired, what am I supposed to eat?”
READ: Joburg residents will pay higher rates
The problem seems widespread.
A resident of Reservoir Hills in Durban says her bill has tripled in just one year.
Earlier this month, during a visit to Msunduzi municipality, KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance MEC Sipho Hlomuka said the government is studying progress and grappling with billing challenges.
