Nelson Mandela Bay Residents Say No to Water Leak Insurance

March 19 - The residents of Nelson Mandela Bay are up in arms over a controversial water leak insurance that the municipality has tried to introduce on to their monthly bills, and thousands of letters of objections have flooded municipal offices as a result.

Notification letters were sent to the Bay's residents informing them that they would need to pay the R10,26 water leak insurance as part of their monthly municipal bill. However, because of the unexpected opposition to the move, the municipality has been forced to shelve the idea for now.

An angry resident said that the municipality exploited the residents' "weakness in not reading the fine print on the back of their accounts", while another said that "more time was needed to get used to having to pay additional municipal charges". One resident, Jacobus Julius said: "The municipality is forcing me to take insurance that I don't want - that is exploitation."

Compendium Insurance Group, through its subsidiary Watersure, offered Nelson Mandela Bay municipality a policy that would cover Bay residents for underground water leaks for up to two incidents per year, with an annual limit of up to 4,000 kl.

Because of the flood of objections, the municipality's plans to deduct the first premium for the water leak insurance in March will need to be reassessed. Investigations will be made to see whether the over 1400 objections to date have any legal validity and what action can be taken on the municipality's part.

For now, a spokesman for the municipality said about the situation: "The process of implementing water loss insurance is delayed at this stage due to objections received."