Lindiwe Ntshalintshali made a passionate plea to senior citizens to be ambassadors of the municipality.
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KINGDOM MABUZA
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EMalahleni mayor Lindiwe Ntshalintshali has asked residents to be the municipality’s ambassadors and spread the message in their communities that everyone pays for the electricity they use as well as services.
Ntshalintshali praised senior citizens for their loyalty and commitment to pay for services despite their tight budget.
“You the elderly are the most honest people and we know that you pay for your services and electricity,” she said.
“But we appeal to you to spread the message and influence the community to also pay.
“Spread the message in your churches and in your burial society clubs, tell youngsters that they should pay,” the mayor told the elders.
Ntshalintshali who was hosting the senior citizens handed to them 500 blankets, wheelchairs and walking sticks, donated by the Witbank Muslim Community and the Al-Imdaad Foundation.
She also told the elderly to discourage communities from burning government infrastructure when they protest.
SEE ALSO EMalahleni threatens communities with power cuts
She announced that the municipality has started with load-shedding in areas where payment levels were low and there is high number of illegal connections
“For two hours in the morning and another two hours in the evening those affected areas would not have electricity until they improve their payment level,” she said.
She encouraged senior citizens to regularly interact with her office and report their frustrations and challenges.
The eMalahleni local municipality has taken a drastic actions in order to reduce losses in the electricity network caused by uncontrolled overloading and the indefensible culture of non-payment for services and in particular electricity, and illegal connections to the power network.
To bring to an end the unacceptable high debt of electricity and replacement caused by burnt out transformers as a result of non- payment and illegal connections, the municipality is going ahead with the Protective Load Reduction Initiative at targeted areas which pay far less compared to their voluminous consumption of power.
*Mabuza works in Ntshalintshali’s office as the municipality’s communication manager.
(edited by ZK)
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