Pensioners concerned about rebate rates – questions incompetency or overwhelming backlogs

The issue of pensioner rebates has been ongoing since the beginning of the year with pensioners citing that they are fed up with the low level of service delivery they receive, while the City still collects unreasonable amounts of revenue.

Following an article published on November 2, action has not been taken which begs the question: Incompetency or overwhelming backlog?

• Also read: Pensioners frustrated with bills as rebates are not reflecting

According to the City of Johannesburg who said that they’ve seen a significant increase in pensioners’ rebate applications this year, with 39 078 applicants applying for them on their properties as of November 9, 2023.

The City has granted the rebates to 15 448 successful applicants and is working tirelessly to finalise all applications. The City advises pensioners to be patient as they continue paying for municipal services until their applications are successful and granted. Unprocessed pensioner rebate applications are flagged for no credit control actions.

In a media statement issued by Ward 83 councillor Florence Roberts on December 5, the City is not processing pensioner rebate applications fast enough and they are also not backdating the rebates awarded which is causing much confusion and hardship for pensioners.

“The City of Joburg’s revenue department received 37 846 unique pensioner rebate applications, with 21 460 processed as of November. Over 15 000 were reviewed, flagged, and adjusted retrospectively from July.

“The team resolves a minimum of 3 200 rebates per month. The Rates Department changed its operational strategy, assessing and activating rebate flags without processing retrospective adjustments.

“The rebates team aims to process retrospective adjustments for accounts already activated for pensioner rebates by December.”