Manenberg pensioner still distressed at prospect of huge water bill

As the world observed World Water Day‚ Anthony Woolgar worried that his mother might suffer a stroke because of the scarce resource.

Shirley Woolgar's water bill amounted to more than R41 000 and "any day now" the 73-year-old will get her new bill. She fears that the bill might be substantially higher because she has a leak on her property that she cannot afford to fix.

"I am waiting for the bill and I am very nervous. I don't know what the bill is going to be‚'' said Woolgar - a pensioner from Manenberg on the Cape Flats - on Wednesday.

She claims officials visited her home in February to inform her that she is the highest water user in the crime-infested suburb.

The City of Cape Town released a list of streets where the highest water consumers live. Manenberg Avenue‚ where Woolgar resides‚ was second on the list with 655,000 litres of water used in one month.

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Cape Town is in a drought chokehold and there is effectively 18.6% of usable drinking water left in the city's dams.

Woolgar and he son confirmed that someone had replaced their water meter recently.

"When I told the man that the meter is fine and that there is a leak he said we have to fix the leak‚" said Anthony.

But Anthony is unemployed and his mother's government pension can barely see them through the month.

On March 9‚ TimesLive contacted that city's mayoral committee member Siyabulela Mamkeli. He confirmed that he visited her home to inform Woolgar about her high water usage. But he said that they discovered that it was not Woolgar's fault.

"We discovered a leak at the property. We saw it and my concern was that she was clearly indigent - so how was she going to fix it?" he said at the time.

Anthony said his mother suffered a stroke last year and he is worried about her health.

"I am worried that she might suffer another stroke and die because of this‚'' said Anthony.

- TMG Digital/The Times