An open letter

FRITZ WRITES:

First of all, I want to address the mayor of Rehoboth. Honourable mayor, we see what you are doing and have achieved this far since you took over the leadership – be assured it does not go unnoticed.

As with any development there are always some questions, but I will leave it aside as there are currently more pressing matters.

The matter I want to raise (and this does not only concern Rehoboth but most other towns and villages) are the electricity and water bills. Before independence most towns and villages had a healthy surplus of funds, which they invested in either one- or two-year fixed deposits – I know, because I was working as an investment banker at the time. Today these municipalities and village councils can’t pay their running bills – how does the Afrikaans saying goes: “Daar is ’n drol in die drinkwater en ’n kinkel in die kabel”. We elected you to, next to other things like development etc., to sort out what happened to the funds. It is time to instigate a forensic audit of the finances of Rehoboth town council over the last 20 odd years and bring to book the persons responsible for theft, fraud and gross negligence. As far as possible the lost funds should be recovered from same people. Secondly investigate illegal power/water connections and fine the people with hefty fines which can be used to pay NamPower and NamWater. Thirdly, act against those owners who owe town council more than the concerned property’s value – which are plenty. It is not fair to make the residence liable for other people’s theft and negligence.

Currently Rehoboth has one of the highest electricity tariffs in the country. Neither is it a solution to raise property values to more than double bank valuations as are now the case with the current valuation report open for inspection (land valuation increase of 3 400% and improvements 1 003%) – most people cannot afford the new property taxes, least of all the pensioners as the new valuation will lead to property tax more than double the monthly pension. No investor will look at Rehoboth in the future with your current valuation of properties – you are killing the town.

The CEO of NamPower should investigate his debtor’s department who were gross negligent (actually can be classified as criminal) for allowing debts to raise to a level where it is obvious that this debt cannot be repaid. You cannot cut electricity to users who already have paid for electricity – most of the residence of Rehoboth have pre-paid meters. You are as liable as the town/village councils you want to punish now for outstanding debts.

The honourable minister of local government and housing – you are also liable as you knew the situation of these villages and towns for many years (it is an open book) and did not intervene. Why?

To say the least, we are disgusted by all of you as it is clear that you are incompetent and failed to intervene when it was clear that funds were disappearing.

I hope that you will take your responsibility serious and start to act as mandated.

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