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On Friday 2 February 2024, the ANC/PA/EFF/PBI coalition government in Knysna Municipality put out communication apologising for an error that caused residents accounts to be double debited. The DA in Knysna demands that municipal leadership immediately intervene and refund the duplicate payments to all impacted residents.
Numerous residents had two payments debited from their bank accounts for their monthly municipal bills. Residents were assured that they would immediately be refunded, but council has failed to return the money.
It is unfair towards our residents especially pensioners and families who cannot afford to have a double debit going off their account. This potentially caused financial hardship and inconvenience for many of our residents. Council needs to come clean if they are unable to refund these residents and why.
Residents should not suffer more than they already do from council’s sheer incompetence. We are putting the governing ANC/PA/EFF/PBI on notice to pay up and relieve the financial strain their incompetence has brought to battling households.
Given the significant disruption, we ask that these refunds be made urgently. We will also request an internal audit investigation to identify the cause of this “error” to ensure those responsible are held to account.