The call for a review was, however, not supported by the ANC, whose councillors all agreed that if residents have a problem with their accounts, they should visit the municipality to sort it out themselves.

Mayor Tolo did remind councillors of their duty to assist the public with queries, but warned against “political grandstanding” by repeatedly raising the issue in sittings.

One complainant, educational psychologist Dr. Amanda Marais, says they’ve visited the municipality on numerous occasions to sort out a recurring engineering services bill of R33 267, which has been paid off already.

Dr. Marais says that the “unhelpful and rude” treatment they’ve received from the municipal finance department to resolve the problem had left a sour taste in her mouth.

“We received an account at Middelburg Preparatory School for engineering services, which was paid off over the course of a year, some of the payments were, however, not captured by the finance department, resulting in a recurring account being received,” Dr. Marais says.

Both Dr. Marais and colleague Dr. Jacolien Greyling visited the municipality numerous times throughout 2018 to resolve the matter.

On two occasions they were met with a “rude and combative” official, whom they reported to the Municipal Manager, Mr. Bheki Khenisa.

In October 2020, bank statements from 2016 and 2017, during which the engineering services fees were paid off, were again taken in by hand to the municipality, with the requirement that the official provide written proof for the receipt of the statements, which the official rudely refused.

“In the Middelburg Observer the municipality gave notice that outstanding monies in the municipality’s account which had not been allocated would be nullified in December 2020,” Dr. Marais says, adding that they again contacted the finance department, which then provided a spreadsheet for the school’s details to be captured alongside the bank statements.

Dr. Marais gave the municipality two weeks to respond or face legal action. Ms. Wait believes more lawyer’s letters will pile up on the municipality’s doorstep due to faulty billing.

“I’ve received hundreds of calls from residents who say that a lot of service charges, like sewage or refuse removal, do not appear on their accounts, it’s not their fault, it’s the municipality’s fault, and if there is a system glitch telling taxpayers who keep the municipality afloat to sort it out themselves, it’s a slap in the face,” Ms. Wait says.

The ANC hit back saying that the smart city system, once fully implemented, would allow users to track not only their consumption but accurate billing in real-time on their phones.

Vergeet My Nie residents, on the indigent list, have also complained numerous times about billing problems, by either being billed too much or too little.

Accounts that are overbilled are rectified on the system with credits, but that usually only happens when the municipality estimates accounts, which happened during the hard lockdown.

Mayor Tolo, however, did allude to “faulty meters,” which he said must also be reported by consumers.