No water so DRTS clients are sent away

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Wednesday November 10, 2010 00:00

 

DRTS officials said because the landlord had failed to settle the water bill the Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) cut off the water supply. 

Desperate members of the public were found massed like bees outside the offices. Some of them had been booked for road driving theory test while others wanted to renew their road licences.

DRTS public relations officer Mmapula Sampson told Mmegi that water was disconnected because the landlord had failed to settle the bill.  However, she claimed water was reconnected the same day after the landlord had paid. 

But the landlord gives a different version, saying they were told by Water Utilities that water would only be reconnected the following day. 

Sampson, who is based at the Gaborone head office, claimed that the Mogoditshane office resumed normal services the same day.  But when this reporter visited the offices, the place was deserted.

One of the clients found outside the offices, Philemon Koketso, had travelled all the way from Ramapate to write the road driving theory test.  Koketso said they were told that the offices were closed because there was no water. 'We were advised to go and try our luck somewhere else,' he said. 

Koketso said he had boarded public transport to get to Mogoditshane. Going to Gaborone meant additional expenses for him. 

He said he showed up at the offices at 9am.Two hours later he was still waiting desperately.However, Koketso said he did not blame the department because it was not their fault. 

To him, it made sense that people should not be allowed to use the offices when there is no water.In as far as he is concerned, there was going to be a problem with the toilets.

The owner of the complex, Gaborone private attorney, Lerumo Mogobe blamed WUC for the whole fiasco. 

Mogobe said they have not been receiving the bills from Water Utilities for quite sometime.

He said after taking over from the Department of Water Affairs, the WUC system is not in place. 

He also blamed the corporation for disconnecting water without notifying them. 'There was no notification,' he said, adding that Water Utilities was insisting that they should settle the whole amount, which was close to P30,000.  'We have been frustrated because the bill was so high,' he said.

He said there was no cooperation from the parastatal company. He added that they expected customers to collect their bills. 'You have to go and beg them.  They would even order you to go back to check the meter number,' he said.

 He said according to the lease agreement, the tenant has to pay a certain portion of the bill. 

Mogobe said he had assumed that the department had been settling the bill. This was moreso that at some stage, the department had paid some of the bills.

Mogobe said what was puzzling was that the water bill for each month had almost tripled.The monthly bill shot up from around P1,000 to more than P3,000. 

Mogobe said WUC claimed that they were owing more than P27,000.He does not believe that this could be true.  He said on Friday, they settled half of the amount and were told that reconnection would be done the following day.He said they still query this amount. 'I was shocked when I saw this bill,' he exclaimed.

Mogobe said the tenants would have to reimburse because the lease agreement stipulates that they should share the costs. He said WUC should not have gone out to disconnect water from a government department without consulting them. 

The property manager for the complex, Olebile Mogobe said everything should be back to normal toady (Monday).  He said even other customers did not receive the bills from Water Utilities but were disconnected.He does not feel that this is a fair way to deal with customers. He said according to a statement that he collected at WUC, the amount that the corporation has been charging them varies significantly. 

The property manager said they could never have failed to pay  Water Utilities if they were receiving the bills on time. 

Meanwhile, WUC officials were not available for comment over the weekend.