Residents in the City of Ekurhuleni are expected to pay their municipal accounts or face disconnection.

Ward 20 Clr Jill Humphreys, on October 27, expressed concerns that this has become an impossible task, as there are neither meter readers nor operational applications for residents to do so.

The councillor said that the city’s Information and Communication Technology Department, responsible for this function, has squandered millions of rands in the process of ‘digitising’ these functions through the establishment of a WhatsApp reporting function and the Ekurhuleni Smart App.

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“These platforms are offline often, and because of this, residents cannot load their readings and are penalised. To add insult to injury, meter readers who physically perform this function are almost non-existent,” the councilor said.

Humphreys said that during every billing cycle, this catastrophe repeats itself.

“The ANC-EFF-ActionSA coalition is running the city into the ground and seemingly has no interest in resolving this issue.”

Given the current dire socio-economic climate, cash-strapped residents are battling to keep their heads above water, and this uncaring coalition is only exacerbating the problem through their uncaring attitude, Humphreys added.

She said the DA will pose questions in council, demanding a clear breakdown of how these issues are to be addressed and by when.

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Humphreys said, “We also want an undertaking by this failing coalition that when systems do not work, law-abiding residents are not penalised for government incompetence.

“The DA will never turn its back on the people of Ekurhuleni. We will fight to ensure that this failing coalition is held to account.”

The Bedfordview Edenvale News contacted the City for comment on October 27, a follow-up on October 30 and another follow-up on November 3, to no avail.