Huge water bill leaves Leo Plaza businesses angry

Leo Plaza’s business owners are frustrated because they’re not getting any support from the municipality. Leo Plaza is a commercial building located at 46 Opperman Street, Klipfontein.

A massive water bill is leaving small businesses at Leo Plaza scratching their heads. With a bill hitting over R77 000, the business owners are upset because the local municipality won’t give them any explanation.

The municipality claims a new water meter was installed, yet residents say they’ve searched everywhere and found nothing but an empty hole.

After getting the shocking bill in June, they decided to follow up with the municipality.

“The water meter broke back in January 2023, and we figured the municipality had put in a new one then. When we checked with the municipality three years later, they said they’d send someone to verify there was actually a meter,” explained Celia Alheit, who manages the municipal account for the group of businesses.

A week later they went back to the municipality, where they insisted from the start that the meter was definitely there.

On July 8, a municipal worker showed up and searched as well, but still no water meter.

Four months have now gone by. The bill keeps growing and the municipality still insists there is a water meter. In the meantime, Leo Plaza got slapped with a fixed rate for unmetered water that’s costing them thousands of rands.

Witbank News tried to get a comment from municipal spokesperson Lebo Mofokeng, but like the water meter, they’re still searching for him as well.