On August 30 this year, the Black Leopards Football Club owed the Makhado Municipality just over R193 000 in outstanding municipal rates and taxes.

The amount was owed on six residential properties in Louis Trichardt, used by the club as housing for its players. On three accounts, amounts totalling close to R130 500, just over R31 000 and close to R24 000 respectively, were owed.

It would, however, seem that at no stage was the electricity supply to any of the football club’s accounts in question cut off. For many this begs the questions: Does the municipality apply different standards when it comes to disconnecting people’s electricity due to non-, short- or late payment? Many residents who have had their electricity supply cut off, due to the slightest discrepancy on their account, will argue that double standards apply.

It may, however, very well be that the Black Leopards Football Club do not owe this amount to the municipality, since erroneous municipal accounts are a somewhat common occurrence. The Zoutpansberger thus asked the Makhado Municipality to confirm whether the six accounts were a correct assessment of what Black Leopards owed the municipality. The municipality was also asked to confirm whether or not the Black Leopards Football Club were disputing any of these accounts and if the electricity supply to any of the properties in question was at any stage disconnected due to the outstanding debt. In Black Leopards’ defence, it must be said that on the account where R130 000 is outstanding, they were billed R10 000 for water usage in August. As far as could be determined, this is for watering their training field at the municipal show grounds. For the previous four months, they received accounts for water usage ranging between R1 000 and R5 000. This is a lot of money for a lot of water, yet looking at the training field, evidence suggests that the field has seen little water in months. At face value, some of the amounts listed in the accounts therefore appear erroneous.

Makhado municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi, however, responded by stating that the accounts were a true reflection of what Black Leopards owed them and that the football club was not disputing any of the accounts. As for whether or not the electricity supply to any of the properties was disconnected at any stage, since the municipality is adamant that the club is thousands of Rands in arrears, Bobodi stated: “Yes, we did and they appear on the cut-off list every month”.

The reconnection fee for residential properties is R142,30. Sure enough, this amount does appear on several of the accounts, indicating that the municipality had indeed cut off the electricity supply to the premises. The main reason for the electricity´s being cut appears to be non-payment, as three of the accounts show that no payment was received for the previous six months. The account where R23 000 is outstanding, shows that the last payment (R900) was received in April. On another account, the last payment indicated was in June. The only relatively active account, with payments for each month being made, is with regard to the R130 000 account.

Following the municipality´s response, Black Leopards were asked to comment. A list of questions was sent to a senior management member of the club. The questions included whether Black Leopards were contesting any of the accounts and, if they agreed that the accounts were correct, why they were not paying the outstanding debt. They were also asked whether Black Leopards had an arrangement with the municipality for the payment of the accounts.

After more than two weeks of waiting for a response, the senior management member on Monday merely indicated that Black Leopards would prefer not to comment at this stage. It was said that the club would rather try and resolve the issue internally with the municipality.