Defaulting holiday home owners are in Ndlambe’s sights this December. Municipal officials have sounded their first salvo as the festive season approaches. With debt collection company Revco off the municipality’s books, securing and recovering revenue is now in their hands – and they’re taking no prisoners. Meanwhile, officials have argued that a new approach to the operation and maintenance of Ndlambe’s water infrastructure technology could cut down the cost and result in a radical improvement in availability and quality.
Members of the Ward 10 committee who met on November 7 were briefed on the details of Ndlambe’s water debt collection strategy.
Chair and ward councillor Nadine Haynes had previously requested ward-specific breakdowns of rates arrears, subsidies, and the extent and age of debt. This data was provided at this month’s meeting.
The September 2025 amount owed by non-indigent residents was close to R260 million. The debt of indigent residents amounted to just over half a million rands.
Another September dataset showed what percentage of the debt each consumer group was answerable for. Residents, of whom all but 0.2% are non indigent (in other words are deemed to be able to afford to pay) owe 54.4% of that R260m. Businesses make up the next highest debt, at 18.2%, followed by rural farmers at just of 5%.
Briefing the Ward 10 committee about plans to make sure residents pay for the water they use, deputy finance director Diane May revealed officials’ no-holds-barred strategy to ensure compliance.
They’ve targeted December as their crunch time and occasional residents – mostly holiday home owners – are deemed to be the most persistent offenders when it comes to non payment. Ndlambe would be disconnecting the electricity and water supplies of non-indigent defaulters.
A notice dated November 6 that was distributed with municipal accounts sets out the new rules.
“In line with the Municipal Finance Management Act… and National Treasury Equitable Share Grant conditions, the municipality will implement water restrictions for comsumers with high water usage and consumers with accounts in arrears or payment defaults,” the notice says.
If you’re among those, you’ll first receive a written notice giving you seven days to respond, reduce your usage or pay your arrears. After 28 days, officials will check in on ou again and if there’s no improvement, they’ll issue a second notice giving you 14 days to comply.
“If non-compliance continues, water restrictions will be implemented,” the notice warns.
New approach to water operations
Meanwhile, with Ndlambe Municipality investing increasingly in technologically advanced water systems, officials have sought the go-ahead to appoint a panel of specialized operators for a 10-year period, rather than the three-year term that the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) stipulates.
This would be for “the operation, maintenance and optimization of Ndlambe Municipality’s technologically advanced membrane-based water treatment facilities,” a report from the municipal manager to a full council meeting on October 31 states.
The item submitted to sought approval from the council to start the processes that section 33 of the MFMA requires for contracts exceeding three financial years.
“Ndlambe Municipality owns and operates a range of technologically advanced systems, including reverse osmosis (RO) plants and ultra-filtration (UF) systems at various locations,” the MM’s report states.
“These facilities require continuous and technically skilled operation to ensure water quality compliance, reliable supply and protection of municipal infrastructure investments.”
Currently the municipality used sort-term operational and support contracts and deviations. The high turnover of service providers had resulted in performance instability, the need to retrain operators and increased costs.
A 10-year panel, with three-year performance reviews, would ensure operationasl continuity, maintaining institutional knowledge and system-specific expertise, the report said.
“Membrane elements typically last 5-7 years while full system overhauls occur over 10-15 years,” the report said. A longer duration for the panel aligned contract terms with those lifecycles.
Explaining the economy of scale, the report said, “Service providers in a long-term arrangement can invest in better equipment, technology and staff training because they can recover those investments over time. This translates into lower unit costs, improved reliability and better asset optimiisation,” the report said.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, November 13, 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
