The City of Johannesburg’s has officially returned to revenue collection efforts and processing including full credit control measures.
As many more people return to their places of work and leisure, the City will be doing all they can to continue building on the 2020/2021 budget through these process. According to a statement released by the City, full credit control measures ‘will see services being cut off for ratepayers with outstanding accounts’. The City did state that ratepayers that approached the municipality to enter into acknowledgements of debt or payment arrangements will not be effected by this.
The City has been desperate to up their collection efforts after deeming credit control functions of the City as non-essential during level 4 and 5 of the Covid-19 lockdown. The budget for the 2020/2021 financial year is mostly made up of revenue collected from municipal services rendered, grants and taxes. They expressed, “With revenue collection still at a low, continuous service delivery is at risk, and therefore requires that ratepayers who can afford to pay to do so.”
Non-payment for services poses a serious threat to the continuation of basic services delivery and exposes the City to increased water and electricity load-shedding interruptions designed to balance demand and supply.
The City urged ratepayers to not ignore pre-termination notices issued to overdue account holders. The City has availed various credit control assistance measures to help residents that are still struggling financially. These include the condition that include a 100 per cent waiver of interest previously charged should the account holder choose to settle their account in full. All ratepayers who approach the City for assistance will also not be subjected to affordability checks, this offer is only valid until 30 September. The City has reminded the public that they will cut off municipal services to those who haven’t taken the necessary steps to avoid this.
For the City to continue rendering its services, we need for our residents to continue paying for their bills…
I would like to urge everyone to please pay their bills well in time to prevent any service delivery cuts from the municipality.#WeServeJoburg pic.twitter.com/DnLODB7hcJ
— MMC Jolidee Matongo (@MatongoMmc) August 27, 2020
Municipal account holders who need to enter into payment arrangements with the City or sign an acknowledgement of debt agreement may send their requests to creditcontrol@joburg.org.za or visit their nearest customer service centre.
