“There is a reduction of payment level… the rate of payment has declined,” he said at the council meeting.

“People do not receive accounts on time, at some stage they do not receive accounts at all. If people do not receive accounts on time they will not prioritise paying services.”

On the loss of water by the municipality, Khunou said that at times tap water was muddy and the municipality had to flush out the water system in order to improve the quality of water.

“This is one of the factors, the others are the alleged theft of water by some contractors and water distributed at informal settlements.”

At the meeting, the council welcomed new DA councillor for ward 16, Cheryl Phillips, and proportional representation (PR) councillor, Ilse Edwards, and ANC PR councillor, Eisha Nokufa Mjekula. She had replaced councillor Fundisile Nqinelo who was gunned down in Marikana last year.

Cheryl Phillips won a ward by-election on January 20. The by-election was held after Maria Bodenstein resigned from the DA and joined the ANC. Bodenstein contested the by-election under the ANC banner but lost.

Speaker Boipelo Marekoa-Kodongo said the Rustenburg local municipality had done well in the previous year.

“Rustenburg has done well. We do not look back to 2015 issues, we are looking forward to 2016. We want to maintain our stand and achieve a clean audit.”

The municipality obtained an unqualified audit report from the Auditor-General, a first for the municipality.

ANA