POLOKWANE – To reduce the local authority’s debt book, the Polokwane Municipality recently intensified its credit control measures by implementing a vending system which remotely blocks consumers who have long overdue municipal accounts, from loading credits on their prepaid meters.

The meters are then only re-activated from the municipal offices once the arrears have been settled or acceptable arrangements were made.

This action of the municipality was met with an outcry and necessitated Mayor John Mpe to call a media briefing last Tuesday in an effort to inform the public.

Mpe admitted that the dissatisfaction of some residents may stem from the lack of effective mass communication and misunderstanding of the municipality’s situation, thus the need for clarification.

“Just like any other municipality in the country, Polokwane Municipality requires revenue from all its ratepayers to deliver quality basic services to its residents and businesses as part of securing the future of the city and its people. The municipality is committed to improve revenue collection but is also not oblivious of the socio-economic situation in the country and has in place measures to cushion indigent households,” Mpe explained.

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According to the mayor, a recent financial analysis depicted that the account payment rate has been decreasing from 89% in February to 81% in May this year.

“The municipality has roughly 58 500 customers on the electricity prepaid vending system and about 16 500 of these consumers owe the municipality in excess of 60 days a combined debt of R424m. This R424m accounts for approximately 20% of the municipality’s total debt book. All 16 500 consumers were blocked and 6 200 indigent meters were later unblocked pending the finalisation of their applications, however, we have learnt that about 5 000 are indigent beneficiaries who are not paying their indigent tariff of R140 per month,” Mpe said.

The mayor also confirmed that as of June 7, a total of 9 123 meters have been unblocked or activated and that 10 369 remained blocked.

“From June 3-7, an amount of R8.6m arrear debts were collected through credit control measures applied to consumers with accounts of six to 12 months in arrears and in one instance a certain business owed the municipality R368 000 in a single year without making any payments. After blocking the meter, an amount of R185 000 was paid and arrangements were made to settle the arrears,” Mpe said.

Mpe condemned persons who are mobilising residents to prevent municipal employees from doing their work and ensuring that services reach the people.

“We have noted with concern that for the last couple of months, the municipality’s technicians have been experiencing acts of continued intimidation and denial of access to properties when implementing physical or manual credit control and the implementation of the blocking system will make our work easier,” Mpe concluded.