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Some defaulters heed metro’s call, others slam ‘bullying’

The South African State Theatre slams the metro’s drive to recoup billions in arrear payments as “irresponsible, bullying and abuse of power”.

February 11, 2022
Reitumetse Mahope 3 minutes read
Photo: Twitter Tshwane

The Tshwane metro’s new aggressive drive to recoup the R17-billion or so it was owed for services has been met with a mixed reaction by government departments, companies, embassies and other entities.

But the metro believed its message was “hitting home” with its defaulting customers.

This came after arms manufacturer Denel settled their debt after their electricity was disconnected.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) announced that its electricity account was up-to-date.

Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said they “noted with concern” reports that it, together with foreign missions in South Africa and other government departments, owed the metro billions in unpaid electricity bills.

Monyela said Dirco made several attempts to reach out to the metro to provide copies of these outstanding invoices.

“The City of Tshwane responded in writing on Monday, confirming that the Dirco accounts to the City are up-to-date, with no outstanding payments. Dirco has also been liaising with the metro to refer any outstanding payments by foreign missions to them to enable Dirco to engage with the missions in question. Dirco also requested meetings with mayor Randall Williams and the MMC for Finance to discuss the issue.

“We, however, have not been able to secure such a meeting.”

On Wednesday, the Department of Water and Sanitation said it was in consultation with the Department of Public Works to ensure that power was reconnected urgently to a part of a building it occupied.

“We wish to assure the public that no services have been disrupted by the disconnection,” said water and sanitation department spokesperson Sputnik Ratau.

“It is only the one building that we share was cut off. Our main buildings continue uninterrupted.”

He said the matter, however, must be resolved urgently.

The South African State Theatre on Friday slammed the metro’s drive as “irresponsible, bullying and abuse of power”.

“We are disappointed by the power cut and to have learnt from the metro’s social media that an amount of R2.7 million is owed to them,” said spokesperson Erick Ndala said.

Ndala claimed discrepancies were found “monthly” on the billing statements they received from the metro.

“The amounts were overcharged even during Covid-19 times when we applied remote working.”

He said even although the due date for payment was March 2, the metro decided to disconnect their power.

“Despite having paid R900 000, our power has not been restored yet.”

Ndara said “strides” made to pay an additional R1.7-million early on Friday morning to get the power restored were also in vain.

“The water meter reading in one of our buildings in Kilnerton had been damaged since 2019. It was reported to the metro several times – in vain.

“It is clear that bill amounts are just estimates.”

The metro on Wednesday announced that the University of Pretoria’s high-performance centre owed the city R34-million.

In the meanwhile, Sols Sons Property Investments in Nana Sita’s power was disconnected for owing the metro R7.9-million.

The power to three apartment buildings in Troy Street was also switched off.

“To Edo owes us R2.9-million, Werk & Leef owes us R5.3-million and Sunny Lodge owes us R3.5-million,” the metro said.

Mayor Williams said metro teams were preparing a comprehensive legal response to companies that were challenging disconnections.

“They are filing legal papers at exceptionally short notice to try and force the courts to rule in their favour on an interim basis so that they have their services reconnected,” he said.

Recently, the owners of Centurion Club Crossing, K Carrim Commercial Properties, served papers on the metro less than an hour before the case sat, effectively preventing the metro from being able to respond, he said. Williams said the metro would be “certainly” be contesting these matters

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At Caxton, every story is written by humans. We use AI only to perform quality checks - never to generate the news. Happy reading!
February 11, 2022
Reitumetse Mahope 3 minutes read

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