Government should pay WUC
Mmegi Editor | Thursday September 15, 2016 11:19
The latest figure is a jump from the P130 million the recent winter Parliament was told government owed, in response to a question by Boteti East Member of Parliament, Sethomo Lelatisitswe.
On Monday, before the ongoing Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies, WUC acting CEO, Mmetla Masire said the corporation’s finances were weighed down by significant debt, led by government.
He said efforts to recover the debt were hampered by a directive that government ministries and departments should not be disconnected for non-payment.
In light of the above, we would like to condemn the government ministries and department for this. As much as individuals and private companies get cut off when they do not pay their bills, the same should apply to these ministries and departments.
The directive is not reason enough to neglect obligations by government as this now costs not only WUC but all taxpayers. The WUC needs the money to carry out their mandate and we can’t have ministries and departments neglect their obligations while some of them use a lot of water knowing very well that they have not paid for it.
The CEO stated that when they were allowed to cut they recovered money. He said they did not cut critical areas like health facilities and schools targeting mostly headquarters.
This worked and now they are not compelled to cut off. The outstanding debt is weighing on the WUC’s stability as the organisation is now reliant on government’s annual subsidies to remain afloat.
If the government wants not to pay water bills, it should have to come from Parliament. We should then be able to allocate WUC a budget knowing that they will not receive any money from government and a proper budget that will help keep the organisation afloat. We also believe that the ministries and departments are allocated money bearing in mind that they have bills to pay, and water is relatively cheap.
In addition to this, we would like to urge all private entities that owe the WUC to pay so we leave them with no excuses in case they fall short of carrying out their mandate.
We know water is scarce in the southern part of the country and a lot of money is needed to keep it flowing.
Rains are also scarce and there is need to explore other means of getting water hence the importance of paying bills.
Today’s thought
“What can be added to the happiness of a man who is in health, out of debt, and has a clear conscience?”
- Adam Smith