People are saying we must wash our hands for 20 seconds many times a day to control the coronavirus, but an 80-year-old pensioner from Elsies River in Cape Town asks how the City of Cape Town expects people to do this when they charge so much and cut water off. With her supply cut off since October and unable to pay the huge bill from her monthly pension, Mrs Elizabeth Ryneveld now gets water from neighbours or down the street.
Mrs Ryneveld’s water worries began after a stoute seun stole her water meter. She kept paying the council each month, adding a little extra to keep her account up to date. But the next thing, she received a R110,000 account. “Hoe het die meter outjie gelees as daar nie ‘n meter was nie?” asks Mrs Ryneveld.
“Hoe kan net drie mense in die huis so veel water gebruik?” Her water was disconnected in last October. Attempts for help from city officials have got her nowhere. Mrs Ryneveld’s daughter Doma said: “This stress has affected her health very badly and the doctors have had to increase her medication. The rent office in Parow is full of pensioners with the same problem.” Part of the problem has to do with huge price increases Cape Town introduced in 2018. Then-mayor Patricia de Lille opposed the tariffs, but the DA launched a Motion of No Confidence against her, saying they needed this money. A year later the city reported billions more in income from water charges. “The tariff s the City introduced punish poor people, in particular,” said Mark Rountree, a water resource expert. “If everyone in the home uses the same amount of water, it costs the average family in Elsies River much more than the average family in Camps Bay.” This case and DA’s water costs – where the poor pay more for water than the rich – have been reported to the Human Rights Commission.
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