eThekwini Municipality honoured its Class of 2025 top achievers at the annual Mayoral Matric Awards Ceremony. The municipality celebrated its top matriculants on 23 January at an intimate ceremony held at the Durban ICC, where Wang Kuo-Hung from Northwood High School was announced as the first-place achiever of the Class of 2025. The ceremony also recognised the most improved school and those that achieved a 100% pass rate in the National Senior Certificate examinations. In his address to the matriculants and the audience, Mayor Cyril Xaba described the event as a “celebration of history and the legacy of the Class of 2025,” which achieved a pass rate of 90.6%, pushing KwaZulu-Natal to first place in the national standings
“We as eThekwini are proud of our learners who contributed to KZN’s success. It goes to show that hard work, dedication, and discipline yields results,” said Xaba. eThekwini’s top learner Kuo-Hung was followed by Cayden Packreeappen of Verulam Secondary School in second position and Zenzele Mayenziwe Dube from Anton Lembede Mathematics, Science and Technology Academy. Open Air School was honoured for achieving a 100% pass rate. School principal Samantha Sayanna said this was the second year in a row that the special school has scored 100%.
The Class of 2025 achieved a 95% bachelor passes and one diploma pass, which is an incredible achievement. “We are really proud and happy with the results of our learners; they have excelled,” said Sayanna. She credited the educators at the school for their hard work in ensuring the success of the Class of 2025 at Open Air.
The accomplishments of the matric learners of KwaZulu-Natal are truly remarkable. They serve as a powerful example of the resilience demonstrated by pupils, their teachers, and the supporting staff. Matric is a life-changing period of transition for all students; however, for a school to achieve a 100% pass rate is phenomenal. Open Air School is indeed fortunate to have reached this milestone. Learners from other schools also worked diligently and achieved commendable success. Kuo-Hung, Packreeappen, and Mayenziwe Dube all attained outstanding results in their examinations.
The Class of 2025 matriculants achieved high marks in their papers, a testament to their diligence and dedication through long hours of study. Open Air School Principal Sayanna has every reason to be proud of her students and staff. These matriculants are now taking the next step toward their goals—pursuing careers and striving to improve their standards of living.
The municipality has introduced a new billing system, which it says is accurate, reliable, and will remain fully operational. This announcement was made in response to allegations by the DA’s eThekwini mayoral candidate, Haniff Hoosen, who claimed that there are widespread systemic inaccuracies and failures within the billing system.
In response, the municipality said Hoosen’s claims are unfounded and misleading. The Mercury has, however, previously reported complaints from ratepayers and councillors about inaccurate billing and estimated billing issues that have left customers with accounts in arrears. The City said while there are isolated cases where customers raise queries regarding their municipal bills, its investigations indicate that the alleged inaccuracies are not due to defects or failures within the billing system.
It said these are largely attributable to external factors, including:
- Undetected water leaks on customer properties, resulting in high consumption
- Reconciliation of actual meter readings following prolonged estimated readings, which may result in once-off adjustments perceived as anomalies
- Access challenges, such as locked premises or aggressive pets, which delay meter readings and necessitate estimated billing
- Incorrect or inconsistent customer-submitted readings, including transposed digits or readings taken from the incorrect meter
- Changes in customer consumption patterns, such as increased household occupancy or expanded business activity
- Delayed reporting of leaks or meter faults by customers
The municipality should investigate the claims of residents, as reported by The Mercury, concerning the billing system. Reports from the investigations that were conducted should be made available to the public. Transparency and accountability must be at the forefront in addressing arrears in billing. Both the municipality and the opposition, including Democratic Alliance mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen, need to ensure that their facts are in order.
The billing system is essentially an Artificial Intelligence (AI) database, created to track how much eThekwini residents are paying for their rates.
It is still early days. If residents have undetected water leaks on their properties, they should be informed so repairs can be made.
- Meter readings are not always identical; they vary according to the temperature and pressure of running water, which determines daily usage.
- Residents must ensure someone is present on their property to allow meter readers access, provided proper identification is shown.
- There is, unsurprisingly, little honesty on the part of some customers regarding their water usage.
- Residents must learn to take responsibility for managing their water consumption and limiting usage where possible.
- Leaks or meter faults should be reported promptly, including over the phone, and delays must be avoided.
Everyone should be able to follow the new system according to how much they pay in rates. Better management of resources is needed. There is the risk of household debts worsening because of a lack of transparent billing audits. This could lead to an erosion of trust in municipal authorities.
Article written by:
Yacoob Cassim
Journalist at Radio Al Ansaar
