City of Joburg has set aside R5.2bn for upgrading infrastructure – Mashaba

1. Good Day, Mayor Mashaba. Is there a possibility of setting up a direct problem-resolving department that is accountable to your office, regarding the Joburg billing crisis for water and/or electricity?

The current structures are inept and unable/unwilling to solve serious billing problems. I have a water bill of R440 000, having been overbilled three years ago and have tried every avenue to resolve this.

We’ve had the water and electricity cut off so many times we have lost count, spent an incredible amount of time and effort to resolve this, but to no avail. Even though Joburg Water has admitted an error, they just keep going around in circles.

Current water usage is paid every month but they cannot work out that nine billion litres of water could not have been delivered to a residence of three persons via a 19mm pipe over and above the normal usage. Your attention would be much appreciated. Andrew Conlan, Bryanston

Mayor Mashaba: Dear Mr Andrew Conlan, thank you for your letter. We understand your frustration and have placed programmes in place to ensure that the city’s inherited billing crisis is finally resolved. This will, of course, take some time. The city has engaged independent consultants to assist us with coming to grips with the matter.

However, I understand the need for immediate relief and I instructed the MMC for finance’s office to contact you with respect to your matter.

Sadly, we could not reach you. We have reached out via the e-mail address provided for you in order to make contact. We hope to hear from you soon.

As part of addressing the billing crisis, the city is arranging regional billing open days within each region over the next few months.

At the last open day, held in August, 88% of client queries received on the day were resolved. I encourage you and other residents in a similar position to attend these regional billing open days once they have been announced for your area. We appreciate your reaching out and are looking forward to hearing from you so that we can resolve your problems.

2. Re: burst water pipe – reported on May 10, 2017 (reference No: 800 328 2659) Three months have elapsed since the matter was reported. The pipe has not been fixed.

Since May 10, 2017, many phone calls have been made and many e-mails sent to Joburg Connect regarding the burst water pipe. The writer pleads to you to have the matter resolved. MA Essack

Mayor Mashaba: Dear Mr Essack, thank you for your letter. Over the years, the city has faced increasingly desperate infrastructure challenges as a result of poor investment in infrastructure repair and maintenance.

Since coming into government, we have committed ourselves to progressively addressing these challenges.

The city has set aside R5.2 billion for the purpose of upgrading existing infrastructure, and a further R3.3 billion has been allocated for the development of new infrastructure.

Additionally, R4.3 billion has also been allocated towards progressively addressing much-needed repairs and maintenance on our existing infrastructure system. We understand your frustration and we are working hard to ensure that your issue is resolved.

Upon investigation into your matter, using the reference provided, we discovered that the issue was resolved over a month ago. However, I instructed an official to contact you and discuss the matter further so that we can reach a resolution that will put all at ease.