Tshwane revenue-collection campaign ‘exceeds’ projections
“Our revenue-collection campaign is going to be the new norm in Tshwane. We have also started disconnecting defaulting residential areas.”
Tshwane mayor Randall Williams met with his finance team on Tuesday where he was briefed that the metro had collected over R600-million.
This was “above initial projections,” according to Williams.
He said 1 061 accounts were disconnected since the beginning of the campaign, which included 533 government accounts and 528 business accounts.
He further said that 335 defaulting clients had responded with payment to the metro.
“Our revenue collection campaign is going to be the new norm in Tshwane. We have also started disconnecting defaulting residential areas. It is important for the city to reinstitute a culture of paying for services rendered.”
Tshwane finance MMC Peter Sutton encouraged utility clients in the metro to pay their accounts to avoid service interruptions.
“We have noted a concerning trend of non-payment due to disputes being lodged regarding certain services on municipal accounts.
“We would like to make it clear that a dispute on a service line, such as electricity, does not exempt customers from paying for other municipal services, such as water, sanitation and waste services,” Sutton said.
He said it was important that customers continue to honour payments on all services consumed while a dispute was being addressed.
Sutton said the metro had further established an affordability committee to look at applications from customers to assist those who were unable to pay their municipal bills.
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This comes as the metro recently warned residents and businesses to avoid illegal connections as it was a crime.
“Theft of electricity and tampering with our infrastructure is a crime.”
Mayoral spokesperson Sipho Stuurman said the administration had now turned its focus on possibly corrupt officials within its ranks who were illegally connecting businesses and homes.
“We are not naïve,” said 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”.
Any businesses or residents caught with illegal connections will be fined around R621 000, while residential customers could cough up R21 000, he said.
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