This as questions mount on whether Bloem Water will on Thursday 19 September 2019 head to the Free State High Court over an outstanding amount owed to it by the Metro.

Meanwhile, the MEC for Finance, Gadija Brown, tells OFM News that the department is assessing ways, such as recouping money owed to the municipality by its clients, which have the potential to help the municipality pay off its debt. Speaking on the sidelines of the provincial colloquium held at the Central University of Technology (CUT) in Bloemfontein, Brown said her department is intervening in the matter and the interventions involve dealing with issues of compliance.
 
Brown further says she can't comment further on the matter since the issues between the Metro and the water board is in the hands of the court. OFM News previously reported that irate Bloemfontein residents reported the Municipality to the Public Protector (PP) and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), following reduced water supply by the Bloem Water Board. Pellissier residents said they took the metro to task after the water board instituted a 30% water restriction in Mangaung, after the metro failed to honour its debt repayments following a warning on 8 August 2019.

On Tuesday, during the sitting by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Brown read some of her damning 68-page report into the state of municipalities. In her report, Brown found that Mangaung and Matjhabeng contribute to most of the outstanding debt, amounting to R6.1 billion and R3.3 billion respectively.


OFM News