JOHANNESBURG: Having spent 27 years in jail, brought down racial apartheid and been elected South Africa’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, 95 and critically ill in hospital, could be forgiven for expecting city council bureaucrats to cut him a little slack.
Yet a notice attached to Mandela’s Johannesburg home at the weekend warned that he owed 6,468.48 rand ($657) in unpaid bills and risked being cut off and prosecuted in court.
Before bailiffs could loom at the statesman’s bedside, however, officials admitted they had made a terrible mistake and sent the pre-termination notice to the wrong address.
They apologised to the Mandela family and promised to discipline those responsible.
All was quiet at the Mandela residence yesterday in the upmarket suburb of Houghton, where drawings and painted messages of support for the ailing hero were still visible.
The debt notice from Johannesburg city council’s credit control department had been removed. Dated 1 August and addressed to 49 Fourth Street in Oaklands, the notice said the occupier’s account had been 6,468.48 rand in arrears for more than 30 days and payment was required within two weeks.
“Failure to do so may, without any further notice to yourself, result in the following actions: Discontinuation or restriction of services and/ or legal action being instituted against yourself without any further notice,” it said.
The Guardian
