Mbabane – Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) owes about E40 million to Eswatini Water Service Corporation (EWSC), a debt which has left the corporation with no option but to switch off water to the police service.
The water bill that REPS owes to EWSC dates back as far as 6 months according to a well-placed source at EWSC.
The water crisis at REPS has been so dire that a water tank had to be mounted at the REPS headquarters in Mbabane to assist the situation.
Some of the officers have had to employ other means to make water available in their respective houses.
A local publication published a story over a week ago on the same issue where it was stated that police officers in Nhlangano were also without water as its supply was disconnected due to unpaid water bills.
As a result, the police officers had to employ other means to get the water and this include fetching it from a local river.
Police mouthpiece Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the water crisis that has hit REPS over the last few months. When asked about the figures that the organisation owes to EWSC, she stated that she was not aware of the figure but did confirm that there was a water crisis within the police camp.
She stated that it was government that had the obligation to pay for water bills on behalf of the police and it was the latter that was aware of the figure that is owed to EWSC.
She said that as far as she knew, a portion of the money owed to EWSC had already been paid and the situation was normalising.
“The Police Commissioner is engaging with EWSC and doing all he can to help the situation. In my understanding, a portion of the money owed to EWSC has been paid by government and the situation is not as bad as it has been over the last few days,” she said.
REPS is not the only government office that is owing EWSC as it has also been reported that the Manzini Regional Education Office (REO) is another public office that has its water supply disconnected due to unpaid water bills. According to some employees at the REO, they had to knock off early in the last few days due to the water shortage and their operations were greatly affected.
Discussion about this post