Stakeholders complain of inconsistent WUC bills

Barati Mathambo
Correspondent | Monday June 24, 2013 00:00

Speaking at the WUC Stakeholder Infrastructure Tour held at WUC Regional offices in Francistown last Thursday, the stakeholders who included Dikgosi and Village Development Committee (VDC) members from villages such as, Chadibe, Borolong, Shashemooke, Tonota, Mathangwane and Semotswane could not withhold their complaints.

Kgosi Dialwa Moalosi of Tonota said that they are faced with a challenge of water bills that are coming with different readings for the same month.'You will find that three bills of a given month will come through and they will have different charges. This makes us wonder whether WUC is doing its job properly as we never know which bill is accurate,' said Moalosi.

Kgosi Keletso Mpatane of Chadibe said that she has received close to seven water bills in one month and this has become a great concern because the readings would be different yet they are of the same month.'WUC should be reducing costs instead of wasting paper because as time goes on they will say they are increasing tariffs to cover the costs and this is going to affect us,' she said.

Mpatane said that at the moment there are places that can go for days without water and this includes Borolong and Chadibe.'In Borolong we can go for days without water and some projects such as backyard gardening are suffering from this ordeal. It is up to WUC to come up with a solution that will benefit us,' she said.She suggested that WUC should introduce taps with recycled water that they will use to water their gardens.

Semotswane VDC member, Masilo Maja said that in their area water is a huge problem and that the new plots in Tonota West have no water pipes going there.'At Semotswane Primary School there is no water again.  We also have a problem of distance with the WUC offices which are in Tonota which is very far,' he said.Addressing the issues WUC, General Manager Keatlaretse Machete said that as WUC they were doing all they could to address issues that are on the ground and that is why they have seen it fit to call upon community leaders who are their ears and eyes.

'This is to show community leaders and to appreciate the progress WUC has made so far and the challenges that the corporation is facing and anticipating. 'Since the takeover of some villages that have merged into the Francistown Management Centre, there are a number of water supply and distribution challenges,' she said.Machete said that supplying water to some of the villages has been a challenge and that land service issue still remains a challenge, as most villages still need to be serviced with water reticulation.

'We are doing all we can to address the situation of water shortage and in some of the areas we are increasing pipes in order to increase the pressure with which water is pumped, 'said Machete.