This is according to Bloem Water, which supplies the metro with water and earlier confirmed that it has already begun to reduce water supply to some parts of the metro.

This announcement comes just days after OFM News reported that Mangaung residents can expect to pay 12% more for their water bill as from 1 July, after the metro announced new tariffs last week Friday.

The water board revealed that the Metro has defaulted on its water accounts between the period of January to April this year. Bloem Water spokesperson, Kido Thoabala, informs OFM News that so far, Mangaung has only partially paid its January account, despite a resolution to pay the monies for this stated period as discussed during a mediation process that was overseen by National Treasury. The two entities have reportedly been undergoing mediation to find a resolve to the matter, with National Treasury acting as the mediator.

In a statement issued earlier this afternoon, Thoabala states that furthermore, during the mediation process by National Treasury on 24 February 2019, it was resolved that the Metro should pay the agreed amount of outstanding debt to Bloem Water for the period of twelve (12) months and Bloem Water must write off the interest on the debt. While the water board kept its end of the bargain, the Metro reneged on this agreement and has allegedly not adhered to any of the resolutions that were agreed upon during mediation.

Thoabala further said that during the mediation process, Bloem Water has always been supplying full capacity of bulk water service to the Metro. "This situation has put Bloem Water in an untenable position, which left it with no option but to reduce the bulk water supply in accordance with Section 4(5) of the Water Services Act 108 of 1997 (as amended). The ongoing non-payment by Mangaung Metro Municipality to Bloem Water has a huge negative operational impact on chemicals, Eskom, employees' benefits etc, which are integral to the very business of the water board," she said in the statement.

Questions were sent to the Metro spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, via WhatsApp and received blue ticks, which implies that they were both received and read. OFM News then tried to get hold of him telephonically, with no avail. At the time this article was published, Khedama did not yet confirm whether or not he would provide comment on the matter. Should he respond, this response will form part of a follow-up article on the matter.

OFM News