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Jenny-Lee Bot rents out a house in Dainfern, Johannesburg. The income from the property is needed to support her family. In 2023, she got the shock of her life when she received her utility bill: water charges had increased from R1,334 due end of July to R454,192 due end of August.<\/p>\n
This astronomical charge was based on a recorded consumption of nearly 6,000 kilolitres, a volume a professional plumber notes is \u201cnearly impossible\u201d for a residential unit in a single month. The huge charges continued for months. Bot\u2019s water bill now exceeds R2.9-million.<\/p>\n
In Gauteng, water consumption averages 279 litres per person per day. For a family of four, this is about 34kl per month.<\/p>\n
Although a minor repair to a small pipe connector leak was carried out in February 2024, the extreme readings persisted, fluctuating between 1,420kl and 5,965kl, averaging a quarter-of-a-million rand monthly.<\/p>\n
Then, the readings returned to normal without any major intervention. From June 2024 onward, consumption dropped to normal usage: between 10kl and 35kl per month.<\/p>\n
The City of Johannesburg has maintained that the high consumption was due to an \u201cinternal leak,\u201d placing the financial burden squarely on Bot. Johannesburg Water, in a message to GroundUp, also blamed the problem on Bot.<\/p>\n
Read: Gauteng community\u2019s taps run dry as municipality battles R1.4bn water debt<\/p>\n
However, independent investigations contradict this.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn a 1 000 square metre stand, the volume of water the bill shows is 5.965m litres in one month. But you would see signs, swamp, sink holes, wet walls, mud patches and running water \u2013 none of which I can find. So the 12 months of high water bills make no sense,\u201d said Simon Bird from SAB Plumbing.<\/p>\n
An engineer consulted by Bot found that this was \u201cclearly a case of either water meter failure, incorrect reading of the water meter and\/or \u2026 miscalculation by the administrator of the water bill invoices\u201d.<\/p>\n
In May 2024, Alpha Plumbing conducted a high-pressure gas test, certifying the \u201cabsolute absence of any active leaks\u201d on the property.<\/p>\n
Yet the City insists on a 50% upfront payment before engaging in any formal dispute resolution.<\/p>\n
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Johannesburg Water told us that the \u201crequest to adjust account due to high consumption\u201d had not been processed, as \u201cthere was [an] internal leak which was owner\u2019s responsibility\u201d. The company said there was \u201chigh consumption\u201d on the property between 21 March 2023 and 16 April 2024, and this had not been fixed by a Johannesburg Water technical team, so the account could not be adjusted. But this claim is inconsistent with the expert reports as well as with the fact that Bot\u2019s bill only started ballooning several months later.<\/p>\n
Sections of two municipal bills that Bot\u2019s rental business has received: over R477 000 due end of August 2023 and over R2.9m due end of April. Image: GroundUp<\/p>\n
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Faced with a bill she cannot pay, Bot risks going bankrupt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lose sleep over this matter, and it is insane that such a huge mistake can put me in liquidation if I cannot find a remedy,\u201d Bot told GroundUp.<\/p>\n
Bot says she has been pushed from \u201cpillar to post\u201d these past two years. She has made dozens of visits to Johannesburg Water, had meetings with lawyers, councillors and even MPs, and written to Johannesburg\u2019s Ombudsman.<\/p>\n
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At one point, she even paid the City for a meter test. But she says she the test never actually took place.<\/p>\n
Bot also alleges corruption \u2013 she says that during her desperate search for a solution, Johannesburg Water officials told her it would be \u201cvery expensive,\u201d but they could make the bill \u201cgo away\u201d.<\/p>\n
Financial toll<\/p>\n
The repeated service disconnections caused by the dispute led to her tenants cancelling their lease.<\/p>\n
This loss of income resulted in a final demand from her bank and a lawyer\u2019s letter, threatening her with liquidation.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Bot obtained a court interdict to keep the lights and water on. But, the City subcontracts disconnections, and the order has not been honoured, according to Bot, and disconnections continue.<\/p>\n
Read:
Fixing SA\u2019s water woes means curtailing municipalities\u2019 free-spending ways
Failing water systems will cost R400bn to fix, says minister<\/p>\n
She cannot afford to spend much on lawyers.<\/p>\n
The utility company has a history of faulty meter readings, particularly following the 2008 Project Phakama centralisation. Errors have been the result of a lack of physical readings, causing many households to be billed for months or even years based on arbitrary estimates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly feel like I\u2019m in a nightmare,\u201d said Bot. \u201cIt\u2019s too much stress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published\u00a0here.<\/p>\n
#Joburg #mom #faces #bankruptcy #R2.9m #water #bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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