United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

During the apartheid struggle, a major weapon in the arsenal of the oppressed was the non-payment of municipal rates. This was one of the few non-violent methods that people could use to show their opposition to the existing order. This mindset was transferred into the new democratic dispensation, where the culture of non-payment continued. High unemployment and poverty rates, excessive water losses due to leaks and a highly under-estimated consumption rate by less informed consumers showing a lack of interest in water saving tips, exacerbated the situation.

Coupled to this were the financial cutbacks from national and provincial governments, which resulted in local municipalities being hard pressed to deliver on basic services and to meet backlogs in these areas. With the majority of municipal funding being self-generated, municipalities found it extremely difficult to deliver on their Constitutional mandate of providing basic services to residents.

The result was huge debts incurred by local municipalities.

Several constraints to delivery had to be addressed. One was how to change people’s mindset about paying for services, another was to solve the loose of water due to leakages and the third was to educate people about how to use water responsibly.

Recently, the Johannesburg Municipality with even more debt, wrote off several million rand in debt, without addressing the fundamental causes, as noted above.

The e’Thewkini Municipality chose not to go this route and came up with a simple programme to address the issue and also to instil a culture of payment for water, by introducing the e’Thekwini Water and Sanitation Debt Relief Programme.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
By July 2004, the e’Thekwini Municipality had to address the R20 million in outstanding water payments in 20 of the worst paying wards in the municipal area. The project set out, not only to explain debt problems but also to provide solutions to reducing water consumption, identifying leaks and maintaining consumption under the free water limit. Via, the implementation of this programme, people’s mindset was challenged and changed, while water leaks were repaired and more importantly, those who were able, started paying for their water accounts. This allowed the municipality to write-off a large percentage of the debt. Currently, 28 000 customers are involved in the project and this has enabled the municipality to receive R15.6 million from customers who had not paid their water accounts previously. Due to these customers contributing towards their current accounts, the municipality was able to write-off R12.9 million in debt. Of the 28 000 customers, 70% pay their accounts regularly. Water consumption of the customers in the programme has also been reduced from an average of 0.63kl per day to 0.55kl, a saving of 52 800kl a month. This translates into a financial saving of R270 000 per month, which can now be used to assist the indigent, who are unable to pay for water.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
Due to the culture of non-payment, municipal debt had spiralled out of control and by the start of 2000 more than R10 billion was owed to municipalities across South Africa. This put considerable strain on the resources of the municipalities to continue to deliver basic services. In an attempt to address this challenge the Water Research Commission (WRC) in partnership with various municipalities conducted a national survey in 2001, in developing and testing payment strategies to address the problem. The worse performing wards were targeted and included sections of the e’Thekwini municipal area. The results of the survey led the e’Thekwini Municipality to establish their project in 2004, where Customer Service Agents (CSA) were trained to visit the households where the 28 000 customers lived and educated them with regard to sustainable water usage.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Local governments, in particular, metropolitan municipalities are faced with spiralling water debt due to the non-payment or irregular payment by customers in low-income areas. As the majority of all local government income is generated locally, the steady cutbacks from national and provincial government to local government has resulted in reduced transfers coupled with expanded responsibilities. This has made cost-recovery and cost cutting measures inevitable. These challenges contributed to local government’s inability to address basic service backlogs with municipalities owed huge sums of money. The research findings of the WRC provided the e’Thekwini Municipality with the necessary information to structure a programme to meet the needs of the municipality and its customers.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
A priority of the programme was to identify the thousands of e’Thekwini customers who had accumulated large arrears due to leaks, mismanagement and the general non-payment of accounts. Once they were identified they would be educated with how best to manage their limited resources and where possible additional support would be rendered by the municipality. This programme was initiated as many of these people had very little hope of ever repaying their debt and returning to a stable financial position. One of the consequences was that thousands of customers, who were ‘blacklisted’ by credit bureaus, could not open accounts, and feared having their homes sold to recover debt and experienced other forms of financial restrictions. Due to the devastation of HIV/AIDS, many households were headed by pensioners and/or children, this further heightened economic and social pressure within these households. So to arbitrarily cut off their water supply would worsen their economic position and have devastating consequences for the well being of these families. The purpose of the programme was therefore to assist the indigent, so that they could experience a better quality of life and so that the municipality could generate much-needed additional income.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
To address these challenges the e’Thekwini Municipality with support from Department of Water Affairs and Forestry conceptualised and developed a debt relief strategy that provided a window period within which indigent customers in arrears could become debt free by making regular monthly payments. People on the programme had to live in homes where the value was less than R100 000 and had to have arrears of 90 days and more. Agreements were drawn up with the targeted group whereby debt would be written-off over 50 months as long as the monthly payments thereafter were up to date. But if they defaulted for more than four months then the debt relief contract would be cancelled and the debt would be reinstated. An extensive advertising campaign to promote the debt relief programme was implemented using radio, local newspapers, councillors, leaflets and customer service agents. While a training and awareness campaign used a visual leaflet to explain the programme in ‘a user friendly way’. CSAs were trained and were managed by Khanyisa Projects to educate customers in their homes regarding their debt and the options available to them. Here CSAs used the leaflet, the billing history and the meter readings to assess the reason for the arrears, and explained how the debt relief could be utilised by the customer. A social worker was also appointed to assist indigent, child headed and pensioner headed households.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Due to the successes achieved, the programme will be rolled out in all the wards of the municipality. More importantly, the municipality’s billing system has been amended to reflect trends and to alert the municipality where possible problems may occur in the payment of services. Prior to the implementation of the programme, only a fraction of the debt owed to the municipality was recovered, but since implementation, the municipality has generated an additional R2.7 million in income, even when it is taken into account that R12.9 million in debt was written-off. What is just as important is that 19 600 customers no longer live in fear of having their homes repossessed due to the non-payment of debt, while child and pensioner headed households have received additional support from the municipality. They are also able to access credit to acquire much-needed items, due to their black-listing being lifted.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The programme is embedded in the institutional framework of the municipality, as it has its own staff, partnerships and management structure in place. This has ensured that the focus is maintained and that the necessary resources are being allocated to support the programme. What has further enhanced the programme’s sustainability is its cost-effectiveness as it generates more income than is being written off annually. There is also an additional 60 000 customers that can qualify for debt relief and as long as the programme is the main mechanism for identifying and addressing water leakages, it will continue. Other municipalities have made inquiries about replicating the e’Thekwini model. Due to the fact that the money saved boasts the revenue generation of the municipality.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
One of the major difficulties that had to be overcome was the demand by poor communities for free basic services, in line with the socio-economic rights ensured in the Constitution. Many people do not think of water as a scarce resource resulting in a lot of water wastage. What changed this mindset were the education and awareness campaigns that were held in the targeted wards. Customers, who felt a sense of helplessness due to their debt, were able to take charge of their lives and their debt. As more customers became involved in the programme, it confirmed the perception amongst staff that having a total debt write-off as implemented by the Johannesburg Municipality was not conducive to changing people’s mindset, as behaviour patterns did not change when people were unable to learn from their experience. Due to the programme’s success the municipality intends to reduce the contract period from 50 to 20 months. Political leaders in the various communities were educated as to how the programme could address the water crisis in their communities and enable more people to have access to water. Proper consultation with targeted customers is essential for the successful rollout of the programme. Social workers were also brought on board at an earlier stage to help the municipality identify and recommend the appropriate form of support when working with indigent families.


Institution Name:		e'Thekwini Municipality
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Teddy Gounden
Title:		Manager Community Education
Telephone/ Fax:		+27 31 311 8667
Institution's / Project's Website:		+27 31 311 8699
E-mail:		teddygo@dmws.durban.gov.za
Address:		PO Box 1039, Durban
Postal Code:		4000
City:		Durban
State/Province:		Kwa-Zulu Natal
Country:		South Africa

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information