Thatcher Red Cross Home
The home owes the Raymond Mhlaba Municipality more than R2,3 million in rates for water and electricity and as such, they have been without power since Tuesday.
The home, which used to be run by the Red Cross, is currently being run by a board of community members from Fort Beaufort.
The dire situation pulled at the heartstrings of community members who have since donated a few lights to the home while a local neighbourhood watch also came on board to keep guard overnight.
Executive Manager, Lendy Ngofa, said when he joined the organisation in February this year, the bill was already high.
"We have had meetings with the municipality and we asked that they look at the billing to see if it is proper.
"We are currently being charged industrial rates as well," he said.
Ngofa said he also had asked the municipality to change to prepaid billing to see if they would not be billed less.
"We are still having ongoing negotiations," he said.
Ngofa said the reason why they racked up so much debt is due to the fact that only 12 of the 21 residents are subsidies by the Department of Social Development.
"Relatives of the families pay a portion and some of them default and some of them pay a shortfall.
"We are human beings, we have got discretion, we cannot just chase them out because we have procedures to try get relatives to pay," he added.
Raymond Mhlaba Municipality
Meanwhile, municipal spokesperson, Sivenati Mtiya said the disconnection drive was a last-ditch attempt to recoup more than R600 million owed to the rural municipality.
She said they have been trying to disconnect the Thatcher Home since 8 September and have had numerous meetings with the home before the latest disconnection.
Mtiya said when they eventually disconnected the home in October, the residents reconnected to the grid illegally.
"Unfortunately, Raymond Mhlaba Municipality Credit Control Policy requires that all municipal accounts be paid on time on the due date as indicated on the account and non-payment of accounts will result in the enforcement of the credit policy.
“In addition, the municipality still needs to pay its own creditors who supply them with services and means to enable its operation to continue rendering essential services such as electricity and refuse collection,” Mtiya said.
"The municipality tried its level best to be considerate and held several meetings but unfortunately, the municipality cannot continue to supply electricity where there is no return," he added.
