MBOMBELA – The local municipality’s Lishumi eShumini debt-repayment incentive scheme has managed to collect undertakings for payment of a tentative R23,8 million. Of this, an actual amount of R5,3 million has been repaid.
This is according to the progress report on the scheme which was compiled by the acting deputy CFO and tabled to council during a special meeting two weeks ago.
Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM) launched the two-month scheme in September. It allowed residents whose municipal accounts were in arrears to repay 50 per cent of what they owed while the balance of their debt was written off. It was noted in the report that the implementation cost R403 022.
It was also confirmed that the incentive scheme was a once-off occurrence. Executive mayor Mr Sibusiso Mathonsi said during the meeting that this specific opportunity had come and gone but that the finance department was continuing to look for ways to improve revenue collection.
“Everybody has an obligation to pay. Our intention was to get people to pay as they are supposed to.”
Of the applications meeting the criteria, 1 023 applicants from KaNyamanzane have arranged to pay R5,1 million, of which R2,1 million has been paid. In Mbombela 511 applicants have arranged to repay R5,6 million over the next 12 months, of which R1,8 million has been paid. Residents of KaBokweni have arranged to repay R3,9 million, Hazyview R1,9 million, White River R1,8 million and Matsulu R235 577. Of these four areas, R13,5 million has been paid.
“MLM will only be able to deliver requisite services to our communities if it is financially sound and therefore the payment incentive scheme is one of the many revenue enhancement programmes council will be implementing, to ensure the integrated development plan strategic objective of ensuring financial viability and management is achieved by council,” the report notes.
It also observed that especially in KaNyamazane, Matsulu and KaBokweni middle-aged customers were not very forthcoming but older customers were. Yet some noted that they needed a longer term than the 12-month period to be able to settle their debt.
Other issues raised by communities which are not directly linked to the Lishumi eShumini project but were discovered during the course of the project included not receiving statements on time, unverified stand numbers and two stands on one property, properties occupied by dependants and not registered in their names such as child-headed households, and some qualifying for an indigent grant and were not on the indigent register.
