Living in denial - Vhembe “not aware” of billing problems

Date: 28 November 2020 By: Andries van Zyl

"The only thing worse than their apparent incompetence is their arrogance in denying that they don’t know what they are doing!” These were the harsh words of one irate resident who has all but given up on trying to get the Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) to sort out his water account.

To describe the VDM’s accounts department as being in “total chaos” would be an understatement to the many taxpayers who have been struggling for months, if not years, to get erroneous VDM accounts rectified.

The VDM has apparently embarked on a process of deliberately inflating water meter readings on “estimates” at both residential and business premises in Louis Trichardt, overcharging them at the maximum tariff on the usage scale. The only problem with this is that the meter readings reflected on consumers’ accounts are nowhere close to the actual meter readings, which are much lower. And the discrepancy is not just R100 or R200. In some cases, these discrepancies run into tens of thousands of rand on single accounts monthly. To further complicate matters, accounts reflect weird meter-reading periods, almost as if the VDM are pre-charging customers for water usage. On one account, the reading period for September 2020 is reflected as 19/02/2025 – 18/08/2025. To add further insult to injury, opening balance amounts are also popping up on accounts that nobody can explain where they come from.

Upon investigation, the Zoutpansberger was able to gather enough evidence that the practice of inflating monthly meter readings with “thumb-suck” estimates has apparently become the norm. One or two case studies, however, stand out.

One such case is that of Ms Sandra Leeson. She owns a home in Munnik Street, but because of the VDM’s continuous struggle to keep the water running, she had her property disconnected from the municipal infrastructure. The municipality was informed of this and, for the last two years, she has been making use of a borehole on her property.

“Yet I continue to get ludicrous accounts. I’ve been struggling with Vhembe since 2018. I have written several letters and made several calls to Vhembe regarding this. They have even been to my house to confirm that I am no longer connected to their system. In September 2019, they rectified my account, but the problem continues. At present, my account amounts to almost R70 000, although I do not use a drop of their water. Their excuse is that the person taking the readings is not aware that I am disconnected from the system and continues to make estimates because I am on the list for taking a reading,” said Leeson.  “I have given up trying to rectify the problem. They must take me to court. I know I will win the case.”

Speaking of taking the VDM to court, businessman Mr Pierre Grobler of the Pierre Grobler Trust has instructed Coxwell, Steyn, Vise & Naudé to declare an official dispute with the VDM regarding grossly inflated and erroneous accounts. In a letter dated 17 November to the municipal manager of the VDM, attorney André Naudé warns the VDM that they will be taken to court to debate his client’s accounts if issues regarding these accounts are not resolved by the end of January 2021. “It is clear from these accounts that you and /or your officials are not doing your work and will be held accountable for that,” Naudé states. In the letter, Naudé also states that it would seem that accounts to his client are being sent in a “fraudulent manner by your officials and our client has to accept that fraud is being committed here for some or other reason, unless the contrary can be proven. If the contrary cannot be proven, then the necessary charges will be filed with the local police station to investigate any fraudulent conduct against your officials,” adds Naudé.

The above letter was written regarding a business complex in the town’s CBD that is owned by the Grobler Trust. They are also making use of a borehole drilled in April 2019 on the premises because of Vhembe’s failure to deliver a constant water supply and have not used any water from Vhembe since. In some of the statements sent to the business, water meter readings are stated as residential, but in others they are indicated as both residential and business and some are only indicated as business. For instance, the opening balance for 8 September 2020 was R45 528,97. During the month of September, the charges jumped to R67 047,38. Thereafter, for the month of October, the use of the business complex jumped from R67 047,30 to R101 186,29. “This means our client has used, in a single month only, almost R24 000 of water,” states Naudé. Thereafter, the account for November 2020 jumps from R101 186,29 to R118 047,98. “Our client also assures us that your meter readers never attend the business complex to do a proper and reasonable reading,” says Naudé.

The Zoutpansberger asked the VDM to respond to these allegations that they are “thumb sucking” and deliberately inflating water meter readings, and that their accounts department is in total chaos. Their response was, true to form, one of denial.

VDM spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai said on Wednesday that they were unaware that people were being billed on “thumb-suck” readings, “because customers are being billed in two ways, through actual and averaging readings (estimation), which the estimation methodology has been approved by the District Council in order to address unread metres,” Ralushai stated. He also stated that no serious problem existed in their accounts department, but that they needed to support/capacitate the meter readers to reduce estimation on billing.

Asked how many complaints they received on average regarding faulty readings and accounts, Ralushai claimed that they only received about 10 complaints on average a day. “All billing complaints raised by customers are being attended,” said Ralushai.

At present, the VDM claims to take meter readings themselves after the previous contract for taking meter readings expired. According to Ralushai, physical readings are taken at home and businesses by their meter readers, “but not in all areas.” So, no, physical readings are not taken everywhere.

Another frustration for consumers is that the VDM does not issue monthly statements on time. “The municipality is in the process of procuring the service provider for printing, sorting, folding and posting of consumer statements,” said Ralushai.

Regarding pending legal actions against the VDM, due to the continuous issuing of inflated monthly water accounts, Ralushai said that they were not aware of any legal action taken against the VDM.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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