Residents across various constituencies in Windhoek have expressed dissatisfaction with their municipal bills.
These concerns were expressed during today's mass verification of municipal accounts at the City of Windhoek.
Several residents disclosed that they have been seeking answers from the City of Windhoek for over eight years regarding the unexplained surges in their bills.
Despite their persistent efforts, the people have repeatedly been left without satisfactory explanations.
Many claimed that their bills have been rising consistently, with city officials often attributing these increases to water leakages. This justification has done little to ease their worries.
"The officials do not want to allow us to do the verification. When people come and enquire individually, they are sent away, so we decided, let's choose a day and just come. We did not come to drop any petition or anything; we came for verification," explained activist Shaun Gariseb.
Another case involves a resident, Jeanette Tlhavanello, whose bill skyrocketed from N$2,500 to over N$200,000 in just one month.
"When I got this via SMS, I was very shocked as to what actually transpired here at that point in time. I came to the CoW to enquire, and they told me that 'yes, the account is indeed correct.' I questioned them: How on this earth can an account escalate from N$2250 the previous month to N$228,000? A house which is in the hoods of Windhoek."
With over 50 residents at the City of Windhoek offices, the volume of grievances underscored the urgency of the issue. Some of the residents had to be removed by the police from the municipality's premises.
Customer Care Centre manager, Nguvi Kapere, assured the ratepayers of the City's commitment to resolving these matters.
He emphasised that the City of Windhoek intends on a more transparent and efficient approach to addressing residents' concerns by verifying their accounts individually and not as a mass, as this will disrupt normal services.
"Customers are welcome to come and verify their accounts, whether they are billed correctly, whether all items are billed, but you come as an individual. We did a standing audit where we went to all the houses to check the services that are hosted at the respective houses against what we are charging them."