As part of the Tshwane metro’s aggressive drive to recover outstanding debts, it has now turned its focus on possibly corrupt officials within its ranks who are illegally connecting businesses and homes.

“We are not naïve,” said Tshwane metro mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman.

“We know there is a possibility of some of our employees being in cahoots with rogue companies.”

A letter by the mayor to the staff highlighted that any staff who co-operated with any business or entity to reconnect services illegally will face “severe consequences”.

Ghousbibi Arifullah at Sunderland Ridge Industrial guess what we found illegal electricity connection, izinyoka-nyoka cost us money. They will be hit with a R 621k fine #TshwaneYaTima pic.twitter.com/kQMDUa7akg

— City of Tshwane (@CityTshwane) February 17, 2022

Any businesses or residents caught with illegal connections will be fined around R600 000, he said.

“And no reconnections will be made until both the fine and the defaulting amount were paid to the metro.”

Several illegal connections were found throughout the metro since the beginning of its drive last week.

“We have already fined a couple of companies. The metro is very serious about illegal connections.”

He said the fine was a fixed amount, regardless of the size of the business.

Stuurman further said the metro had been making strides as over R100m had been recouped so far.

“We are as yet uncertain of the exact amount. But our priority is to push this drive effectively. We will ensure that we have followed due process and served defaulters with a 14-day disconnection notice before disconnecting them.”

Stuurman said the metro was obligated by legislation to collect revenue to ensure service delivery in the city.

He said the drive would benefit residents as the metro’s revenue could reach a surplus that would allow it to operate normally with quality services.

He added that the top five defaulters are: Madibeng local municipality, Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency, Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development, Prasa and the North West Development Corporation.

Stuurman said the metro had also provided for disputes because businesses and embassies had the right to lodge disputes on their accounts.

The dispute, however, did not exempt them from not paying for the rest of the services that they have consumed.