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dam-l Mayor held hostage over water cuts/LS
The Mercury 15/6/00
Mayor held hostage over water cuts
By Venilla Yoganathan
Agnes Ndlovu, the mayor of Glencoe, KwaZulu-Natal, was held hostage and had
her house stoned by angry residents as a result of attempts by a municipal
official to enforce water disconnections for non-paying consumers.
The official has come under fire for allegedly "intimidating" residents of
Glencoe's Sithembile township by calling in security personnel to assist
with the disconnections.
The community is to stage a march through Glencoe on Thursday in protest
against the actions, which resulted in clashes in which one resident was
reportedly hurt.
On Wednesday, the deputy chairperson of the Glencoe council's executive
committee, Pravesh Bisram, said the official had acted without consulting
councillors.
Outstanding payments to the council stand at an estimated R13-million.
The official was not available for comment, but in a newspaper was quoted as
saying: "The minister (of local government) clearly indicated that the
determination and application of credit control measures are the
responsibility of the town clerk.
"The minister has warned all town clerks that failure to perform in terms of
the directive will be viewed in an extremely serious light."
http://www.iol.co.za/news/sa_newsview.php3?click_id=13&art_id=ct200006142107
24142G452242&set_id=1
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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