Tenants in the dark for a good reason
Tenants were left in the dark after the owner failed to pay the bills because the owner has other outstanding accounts as well.
Tenants of Noordheuwel Heights had quite a shock early in June when Mogale City Local Municipality wanted to switch off their electricity.
“We use electricity meters and the water is included in the monthly cost of rent. We owe nothing,” Andrew Ncube, a Heights tenant, said.
Indeed, the tenants owed nothing, but the owner of Noordheuwel Heights was found to owe Mogale City an outstanding debt of R623 858, 59 for electricity and R309 893, 83 for water. The power was cut due to illegal power re-connections that were made by the tenants after the power was cut the first time.
The contractor assigned to switching off the electricity on Friday 12 June, told the tenants they have until the following Wednesday to “figure it out”.
On the Wednesday morning, Andrew and four other tenants went to the municipality, only to find that a portion of the amount had been paid by the Heights’ owner.
Tshegofatso Shoai and Sipho None from Dikgang Isa Mogale, Mogale City’s internal newsletter, further investigated the matter and found the owner of Noordheuwel Heights had other outstanding accounts to pay as well.
“After numerous interventions, the owner failed to pay the amount outstanding to the municipality,” their report read.
The tenants were eventually advised to consult with the owner of the property. On 17 June, a payment of R285 000 was then made to the municipality.
Ruth Bayibayi, Senior Finance Administration Officer within the Revenue section said the municipality does not disconnect electricity and water for no apparent reason.
“This is a long standing account and as a municipality we provide services to the community and therefore expect payment for the services that we provide,” she said.
“We have made a series of interventions on this account, but to no avail, and we had no other option but to disconnect electricity for the entire block of flats.”
Mogale City then found the owner had another outstanding account of R309 893, 83.
“And there was a clearance request on the account.”
For businesses such as the Noordheuwel Heights, Bayibayi said the owners should not hesitate to visit the municipality’s revenue section and explain their situations.
She said in order to make arrangements, clients are required to bring along a copy of the green bar coded Identity Document, three month’s bank statement and 50 percent of the outstanding debts should be paid upfront to make proper arrangements.
For businesses and government debts contact Ruth Bayibayi on 011 951 2065 and at ruth.bayibayi@mogalecity.gov.za, Beauty Malefo at 011 951 2248 and at beauty.malefo@mogalecity.gov.za and Lebogang Ntshabele on 011 951 2311 and at lebogang.ntshabele@mogalecity.gov.za.
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