Residents bemoan City’s debt-collection strategy
Residents of the John Pandeni constituency in Windhoek intend to petition President Hage Geingob over the City of Windhoek’s “refusal” to address its “dubious” debt calculations.“Ninety per cent of the debts have accumulated because of the City of Windhoek’s clandestine calculation of interest, illegal electricity [disconnection] over water accounts, estimation system and lack of mechanisms to improve the situation.
“The only thing they want is to keep residents in debt and force the last coins out of our pockets,” activist Shaun Gariseb said.
“It borders on systematic fraud and economic oppression of the residents,” he added.
According to Gariseb, more than 100 accounts that were inherited from deceased residents have been in debt for over eight years, while on more than 500 accounts, interest has exceeded the principal debt and all services have been suspended.
He added that 80% of residents have made payments to the municipality on accounts where debts were meant to be written off, according to the City’s debt management policy.
The group said they would also consider petitioning the court if the City refuses to address their plight. “We will go to the courts because we have exhausted all our avenues. We went to all available provisions and exercised patience,” Gariseb said.
“We remain confident in the mechanism that we proposed and we know it will address the problem the City is facing. We have said it over and over [again] - we don't want dispensation around our obligations, we don't want write-offs only; we want mechanisms adopted that will suit us all and result in a win-win situation.”