S/Phikwe residents owe council P6.4m

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Tuesday June 28, 2011 00:00

Addressing a Kgotla meeting in Ikagelang Mbaiwa called upon the residents to pay the council for the services that they are getting.

'We have tried to come up with ways of encouraging people to pay their arrears by putting up their names on notice boards. We have now introduced a new system that allows residents to pay their rates and service levy at any post office across the country. That will save time that one would otherwise take going to the council revenue office to pay,' he said.

Mbaiwa said that the residents owe P2.2 million in service levy and SHHA loans and a further P4.2 million in unpaid rates. He said that the council recurrent budget for 2011/12 is P91 million and that government will only release P73 million.

The council must come up with ways of generating the remaining P17 million, he said. Mbaiwa said that council's failure to generate such an amount would hinder developments planned for Selebi-Phikwe. Mbaiwa who spent time at kgotla meetings around Selebi-Phikwe since becoming mayor said that there is a pilot poverty alleviation programme that will be introduced in Botshabelo and Kagiso. He explained that the project would start with 40 people in each of the two wards before being spread to other areas successful.

He said that beneficiaries will be expected to come up with ideas to alleviate them from poverty and become self-reliant. He told the residents that the government has released P110,000 for purchase of farm produce such as water melons by five primary schools in the town. Mbaiwa also informed the residents about the upcoming Population and Housing Census in August.

He said that Selebi-Phikwe has been divided into 165 enumeration areas and that the exercise has created 300 jobs. Responding to the mayor's address, one of the residents, Masego Ntsatsi welcomed the latest development of paying rates at post offices. She said that the move would make it easy for people to pay their debts. Ntsatsi however argued that the poverty alleviation programme should have been piloted in Ikageleng.

'These days the council has placed everything under the Ipelegeng Programme. The Council Building Department is no longer doing anything. We no longer understand the mandate of Ipelegeng,' she said.

Another resident, David Tukishi said the only way the council can effectively collect arrears is to engage debt collectors. He explained that there are people who do not read their mail or even notice boards.