Ya Tima teams disconnect properties owing millions in arrears
City officials focused on serial defaulters during the drive, reconnecting the message that payment of municipal accounts ensures continuous delivery of services.
Tshwane’s mayor, Nasiphi Moya, recently led a Tshwane Ya Tima drive in the central area targeting several spots which owed a combined total of R25-million.
The properties included a student accommodation, a shopping mall, a hotel, and various businesses on the job cards for the operation on September 15.
“Most of these are serial offenders; it’s not the first time we are disconnecting them. We don’t know if people just don’t want to pay, or if people don’t know our processes regarding when they are unable to afford our accounts,” Moya said.
One of the locations, a shopping mall based in Arcadia, was visited by the Ya Tima team back in March. During yesterday’s operation, they received yet another visit as they were still in arrears.
“We are really asking big business, big property owners in the city, to really take their accounts seriously. It can’t be the norm to use our resources this way to keep coming back to the same people,” Moya said.
“There’s no reason why these people aren’t paying. They are on prepaid meters, and all they need to do is make sure that their accounts are always positive,” she said.
“We will forever come and reclaim what is owed to the municipality because if we don’t do that, we won’t be able to deliver services to the people, and that’s what residents of Tshwane don’t understand. If there’s no payment of services, it has an impact on our ability to deliver them,” Moya added.
Other locations visited included a student accommodation building, owing R6-million for electricity, a Sunnyside residential building owing R2-million, which had bypassed the city meter.
Also visited was a residential property on Arcadia Street, owing R2.1-million to the city and connected illegally to the neighbouring property.
From Pretoria West to Sunnyside and from Arcadia to Hatfield, Moya said the teams are noticing that big businesses have not gotten into the culture of honouring their payments.
“If we don’t collect what is due to us after the consumption of water and electricity, we get problems. Firstly, to meet our obligation towards our creditors and [secondly] to ensure we have enough money to deliver services to the people.
“The team is tired; they’ve been working since morning, but I do believe that this is a message we have to send out, and it’s also a way of educating our clients. When you consume services, you must pay for them,” Moya said.
Successful #TshwaneYaTima operation today. We switched off several accounts owning over R25 million. We can’t fulfil our mandate to deliver services without funds. Please pay your municipal bills. @CityTshwane pic.twitter.com/AfzlXTBZVV
— Dr Nasiphi Moya (@nasiphim) September 15, 2025
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