Debt collectors may soon knock at doors
In a meeting of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), Greater Giyani municipal manager Vusi Khoza said the municipality was close to completing the new landfill site to accommodate all of Giyani's waste disposal.
Khoza said the municipality had been given a scope of what is needed to complete the landfill site by the Department of Water and Sanitation to receive a licence to operate it. “We are anticipating that the tender to finalise the work will be out by April, and commence with implementation by May this year,” explained Khoza, adding that he expects the work to be complete by the first week of July since no major construction is needed.
Another crucial question the MPAC asked was how the municipality was going to improve its debt collection system since it was owed more than R500m, mostly by government departments. In response, Khoza said the municipality’s debt remains a challenge as residents are unwilling to pay for services. He said residents claim services are not affordable due to financial problems.
Also read: Greater Giyani Municipality on the right track with 10% improvement-MPAC
“While some may truly be unable to pay for services, the majority can do so easily; they simply choose not to,” he said, adding that the municipality was working on hiring a debt collector. “While inquiring about how other municipalities handle debt collection, we found that hiring debt collectors was the best approach, and this is an area we’re currently exploring to see if it’ll work for us,” he continued.
According to him, the municipality is in the process of releasing a tender for the hiring of a debt collector. “We hope the services of a debt collector will assist us in collecting what we are owed,” he explained. “Without proper debt collection that enhances our revenue collection, we won’t be able to fund some of our outstanding projects, such as the sports centre in Section E, which needs funding to complete,” he said.
Also read: Giyani is on track to a clean audit
Cedrick Baloyi, acting mayor at the meeting commended the work of the MPAC committee. “We need a committee like this to watch and guide us on the right path,” he explained. “However, as much as we’re happy with the recent unqualified audit opinion that we got from the Auditor General, we still need to ensure that we get a clean audit hence the work of the MPAC is necessary to guide us through it,” he said.
