DA Johannesburg shadow MMC for finance slams city for conflicting reports over billing system failure
DA Johannesburg Shadow MMC for Finance Chris Santana says residents are being misled after the City of Johannesburg released contradictory statements about municipal payments not reflecting due to failures by the e-Venus billing system.
Democratic Alliance (DA) Johannesburg Shadow MMC for Finance, and Ward 103 councillor, Chris Santana has raised serious concerns over what he calls the city’s attempt to mislead residents about the collapse of e-Venus, a payment processing system.
According to an internal memo made available to councillors dated February 1, payments made from January 19 to date are not reflecting on customers’ accounts due to failed uploads between the e-Venus system and the municipal core receipting (MCR) platform.
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The memo further noted that, from February 2, no payments will be accepted at customer service centres, as the e-Venus system is currently down. “Customers must be referred to third-party payment channels, such as EasyPay outlets and their respective banks.”
However, on February 3, the city released a public statement denying that any payment failures existed. “The City of Johannesburg has become aware of social media messages suggesting that customer’s municipal payments are not reflecting on their statements. The city would like to clarify that these claims are incorrect. Payments made through official city channels continue to be processed and reflected on customer accounts.”
Santana said he is deeply concerned by the city’s ongoing attempts to mislead residents about the collapse of its payment processing systems.
“On February 1, an internal memo, issued by acting director of customer interface Arthur Mbobo, confirmed that payments made since January 19 are not reflecting on the city’s system due to failed uploads. The memo further instructed staff to stop accepting payments at customer service centres because the e-Venus billing system is offline.
“Despite this clear internal communication, the city’s group finance department released a public statement yesterday denying that any payment failures exist, and claiming that service centres are operating as usual.” Santana added that this contradiction is unacceptable. Residents deserve honesty, not spin.
Santana said residents’ frustrations are understandable, as many have already paid their bills, only to be told they owe money. They now face disconnections, or must dispute balances, entirely because of the city’s system failures. “The city must acknowledge the breakdown, instead of denying the lived experiences of residents.”
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Santana calls on the city to withdraw the misleading media release, provide full transparency on the extent of the e-Venus system failure and provide a realistic timeline for when payments made in the last two weeks will be processed.
Santana said the public cannot be reassured with statements that directly contradict internal directives. “It is unjust to disconnect households for non-payment when the city’s own systems cannot register payments already made.”
The City of Johannesburg, however, rejected allegations of payment processing failures, saying that payments made through official channels continue to be processed, and reflect on customer accounts.
The city also notes allegations that customers with up-to-date accounts may be disconnected due to these issues. This is not the case. Customers whose accounts are in good standing are not subjected to credit control disconnections in line with the city’s credit control policy.” The statement further noted that the customer service centres remain operational and continue to accept payments as usual.
Santana is also demanding the city to hold officials accountable for approving a public communication that misrepresents the operational status of the city’s billing.
“The DA will escalate this matter to the mayoral committee, and demand a full, transparent audit of the e-Venus outage, including the timeline and the root causes of the failed uploads.”
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