Katutura residents report municipality to police for overcharging

Katutura residents approached Windhoek Police Station on Saturday to open a collective case of theft and fraud against the City of Windhoek.

This is for overcharging them for water and electricity services.

Deputy police commissioner Chrispin Mubebo yesterday said Windhoek Police Station was not informed of the number of Katatura Residents Committee (KRC) members who would be opening the case at the station on Saturday.

“So we are still mobilising officers to try and see what they need and how we can assist them,” he said. “We picked it up on social media, but we don’t know where they would be going as we have various police stations,” he said.

KRC spokesperson Shaun Gariseb yesterday said he was mobilising more residents to come forward between today and tomorrow to open the case.

He said the committee’s plan to register a collective case against the municipality had to be postponed to today due to the large turnout.

“Because it was the weekend, the police station did not have the capacity to take all our statements. They summoned more than 10 senior officers from various departments,” he said.

Gariseb said the police will announce a larger venue for the residents to convene to open the case.

He claimed the municipality’s “fraudulent and faulty” billing system has exaggerated its customers’ water debt for the past three years through theft and corruption.

Gariseb is urging residents to come forward and open a case against the municipality if they suspect discrepancies in their water bill statements.

“You just need to come with your municipality statements and give a supporting statement under the main case,” he said.

“…it’s important to note we won’t exercise the citizens arrest on Wednesday, and will withhold that patriotic obligation till further notice,” he said.

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Meanwhile, the city’s plan to offer prepaid utilities on credit to its customers facing financial difficulties may be unrealistic.

This comes after the Electricity Control Board (ECB) initially approved a hike in the price of electricity in July to prevent local authorities and electricity distributors from losing money.

The ECB later backtracked on this.

City of Windhoek spokesperson Harold Akwenye last week said the municipality’s plan to offer prepaid water or electricity on credit is still in its initial phase as part of the municipality’s City App launch on Thursday.

“We are currently evaluating its practicality,” he said.

Akwenye said the new initiative would not be affected by the city’s faulty billing system, which has allegedly plagued many residents.

The spokesperson said the municipality has made tweaks to the system to avoid further disruption and irregularities.

“Our billing system has been enhanced to detect any interference or tampering. This improvement will help us ensure that future initiatives, including the offering of prepaid services on credit, are not compromised,” he said.

Akwenye said the municipality is committed to ensuring the product they launch is thoroughly tested before it goes into market and does not cause more harm than good for residents.

“The practicality of this initiative is still under evaluation. We are aware of the challenges it might present, particularly for customers with financial constraints.”

He said the City will ensure that actions are implemented to prevent customers from accumulating more debts by mitigating challenges that may arise with the initiative.

“Measures will be put in place to prevent the accumulation of debt,” he said.

“We are considering mechanisms to ensure that service disconnections do not happen arbitrarily without giving customers a chance to manage their finances,” he said.

Akwenye said the municipality is formulating ways to hold customers accountable without depriving them access to water and electricity.

“This may include payment plans or other support mechanisms . . ,” he said.

Akwenye yesterday disputed the KRC’s allegations and said the police cases are baseless.

“The City of Windhoek is aware, through social media, of the allegations of theft by conversion, corruption, and fraud brought against us by the Katutura Residents Committee,” he said.

“We cannot respond to these allegations as they are currently baseless. We will wait and see what the reported cases entail before conducting our own internal or independent investigations,” he said.

Akwenye said the municipality has identified 15 accounts which have been affected by the faulty billing system, adding that further investigations could uncover more affected accounts.

“We will be able to respond more objectively once we have the critical findings from this investigation,” he said.

However, Gariseb said a credit system would not solve residents’s current challenges.

He said this initiative challenges the ideas the committee has been proposing to the municipality to reduce residents’ credit.

“This defeats the purpose of prepaid meter provisions, and we proposed them in line with making credit less, but these people unbelievably think this is a solution,” he said.

Gariseb said the municipality should do away with debt completely and find amicable arrangements for its customers.

“Those who make use of provisions offered by a mobile operator will tell you how difficult it is. They just stay in debt,” he said.

Gariseb said the municipality should consult residents with a clear understanding of their problem.

“… otherwise they’ll just make blunders, because their leaders are out of touch with reality.”