Good rate payers in Polokwane might receive some relief soon

POLOKWANE – Polokwane Municipality on Tuesday released details of an incentive scheme that was approved during a recent council meeting that will among others, provide for a 10% discount on the due amounts on the municipal accounts for September and October for good ratepayers and 35% for ratepayers who are in arrears but willing to settle their outstanding accounts.

A consumer will be regarded as a good payer if payments were made on time (on or before the due date of the 25th of each month) for the past 12 months and the relief will be based on balances as at June 30, 2022.

The relief will not apply to government departments.

The aim of the incentive scheme is to instill a culture of payment, improve the debt collection, provide an opportunity to further cleanse the debtor profiles and reduce the burden on customers for payments in arrears due to economic hardships.

All qualifying indigent balances (R30m) outstanding, 100% on all outstanding debts by sports clubs (R3.9m), inactive prescribed debts (R105m), all R/D cheques (R1.4m) outstanding, as well as all traffic fines older than three years (R78m) will be written off, while 60% of all deceased accounts (R130m) will also be written off in order to encourage the deceased estate to register the property in the name of the beneficiary and 100% of those accounts as at June 30, 2022 where the beneficiary’s status of indigency is confirmed.

Lastly, 60% (R18m) of municipal lessees who are SMMEs will also receive a write off.

Amounts on accounts reflecting outstanding balances below R1 000 (R793m) will furthermore also be written off.

To qualify for the incentive, debtors will be required to complete and sign a debt incentive form and update their details when requested.

Failure to do so will disqualify the applicants for any discounts.

The municipality will accept applications for the incentives as from November 28.

The DA in Polokwane is perplexed why the recently approved incentive took so long to come to council and be approved.

“Covid-19 has had a major impact on businesses and residents as a whole, it took this ANC lead council more than two years to react to the plight of residents and businesses. Many businesses and residents were forced into credit to keep paying their municipal accounts to ensure their services were not cut off,” DA caucus leader Jacques Joubert said.

“The problem with regular incentives is that it does not harbour a better culture of payment. On the contrary, many wait for incentives and abuse these incentives. Rather than complicated incentives, Polokwane Municipality should rather be proactive and rework the relevant policies to be more aligned with the plight of consumers who genuinely struggle due to economic circumstances,” he added.

Joubert emphasised that vetting and adequate checks should be in place to ensure that there will be no abuse of any rebates or incentives.

“The DA successfully opposed the proposed 50% write off for bridging fines at portfolio level. Bridging fines need to be deterrents and cannot be subject to rebates or discounts,” Joubert said and reckoned that the municipality does not have its systems in place to action this incentive at the moment.