UNCERTAINTY looms for indebted water and electricity account holders, as millions of rands collected by one of the prime ways for South Africans to claw their way out of debt – the 80/20 debt relief programme – has been plunged into chaos.

Also read: eThekwini responds as substation fires surge in Amanzimtoti

The eThekwini Ratepayers Protect Movement (ERPM) released an eye-opening statement after their investigation into the funds through a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application in November last year.

The 80/20 debt relief programme was introduced to ease the burden on customers. In a municipality-issued article, it is explained that when a customer purchases an electricity token, 20% of their purchase goes towards their outstanding debt, while 80% goes towards their electricity purchase. Customers with R500 or more in debt qualify for the relief, and credit meter customers are required to apply to participate in the agreement.

According to Asad Gaffar, chairperson of the ERPM, individuals came to his organisation out of desperation, as account holders are allegedly being threatened with legal action, due to ballooning interest rates being tacked onto their accounts.

Also read: eThekwini Municipality introduces new water dashboard

“Those in this 80/20 agreement are being subjected to the 20% deduction, however, this money that is being deducted is not being applied to their principal debt,” he explained.

Deputy chairperson of the ERPM, Rose Cortes, added that the customers are thus not seeing their arrears decrease, while interest persists on the rising debt balance.

“The city has failed in their fiscal duties to these customers. Many are being disconnected from services, handed over to debt collectors and when they go in and query their arrears not decreasing, are met with ground staff who are pushing them into additional credit agreements to avoid disconnection,” she claimed.

Cortes questioned whether a customer can be in two concurrent payments.

ERPM state that the PAIA response does not fully answer how the programme was enacted, under which council resolution, and on which date. Further, R22 659 849,19 has been collected since July 2020 and has yet to be allocated to individual accounts.

Also read: eThekwini Municipality urges businesses to renew trading licences

“The non reflection to the individual consumer is as a result of an inadequate billing system that isn’t integrated with third party vendors, however, the city is committing to rectifying allocations by using a manual process to upload payments into the RMS system by June 30. The PAIA response does not clearly state how those in the 80/20 debt relief programme will be managed,” said Gaffar.

ERPM have revealed that it has not come across any individual whose account has been manually rectified to date. Gaffar further stated, “This demonstrates that our call for this municipality to be placed under administration is justified and necessary. We will not relent in our fight for justice and we urge all those who were subjected to this unjust 80/20 debt relief programme to make contact with us urgently.”

The Municipality have confirmed that the debt relief programme is still available, and customers are still able to pay 5% of their debt at the nearest revenue office and thereafter discuss a payment arrangement.

eThekwini Municipality spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said, “An amount equivalent to R22 million has been collected from the electricity consumers as part of the 80/20 programme. However, the City is currently reconciling the SUPREMA and Revenue Management System and as soon as the reconciliations have been concluded, customers will be credited accordingly. The amounts credited to customers will vary depending on their monthly usage.”

If you are affected by the 80/20 debt relief programme, email queries@erpm.co.za or join the ERPM WhatsApp group to work towards a solution. Click the following url: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DB211M8OxmlHVitn4SWCoe

Do you have more information pertaining to this story? Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.