KNYSNA NEWS - For months a resident of Eastford Downs in Knysna has been receiving a municipal account with reduced amounts – because the municipality treated her account as that of a fire victim. Yet the house of Aty van Stegeren stands tall, unblemished and unaffected by the fires of June 2017.
"I cannot accept this discount. I am not a fire victim," she sighs, admitting that honesty got the better of her. "I had to tell the municipality."
Van Stegeren is Dutch and for years has been living in Knysna. Several houses at Eastford Downs were reduced to ashes during the fires but hers escaped without any damage.
She says that when analysing their monthly bill upon her return from an extended visit abroad, she and her husband were somewhat surprised at the reduction of rates for the past few months, and queried this at the municipality.
"I was told that the reduction was because my house burnt down. I asked the person behind the counter how sure he was that my house was reduced to ashes, but he couldn't give me an answer. He admitted that they haven't physically inspected the area and thus were actually unsure regarding the status of my home," she says. Van Stegeren then pointed out that her house, in fact, was not burnt down and that she did not qualify for any reduction. She now owes the municipality approximately R6 000.
"I had to correct the mistake at the municipality as I know the money can be better utilised elsewhere, such as in the townships and for the town's roads. If I had kept quiet, they probably still wouldn't know a thing," she says, adding that what puzzles her is how the municipality could just assume that certain homeowners were fire victims without actually checking to make sure.
"Couldn't they see the water and electricity usage and from that determine that a home is occupied or not?" she asked, saying that the state of affairs at the municipality was concerning. "It would be very odd if I am the only one that the municipality has been incorrectly billing with reduced rates," she says.
Knysna Municipality was asked to comment on the matter but no response was received at the time of going to print.
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