A homeowner from Sharon Park expressed frustration with the City of Ekurhuleni over months of delays, repeated visits to municipal offices, and unexpected additional charges while trying to obtain clearance for a property that has already been sold.

Aaron Moloko told the Springs Advertiser that he and his representative have visited several municipal offices more than 25 times in an effort to resolve ongoing account issues linked to his property.

Despite paying over R40 000, which the municipality requested in September 2025 towards the account for clearance to be issued, he said the matter remains unresolved, with various issues. The property remained disconnected, and further water charges were imposed on a vacant property.

“At this stage, it feels as though this property is being unfairly targeted, and we are unsure why this continues to happen,” said Moloko.

According to him, the R40 000 payment was financed by a loan to secure municipal clearance for the sale of the property. He said they are now being charged daily interest on that loan since September 2025 due to delays on the municipality’s side.

“The property is sold, and we struggle to get even clearance. We took a loan to pay the requested amount so we could move forward. Now we are paying interest every day because the process is dragging on,” he said.

Even though the amount was higher than normal, he requested the clearance tariff figures to ensure they were charged correctly, but those have still not received, as he expressed with frustration.

Moloko explained further that in November 2025, he was informed that the property was under investigation when he did follow-ups. He claims the investigation took longer than anticipated, with no clear feedback or resolution timeline provided.

He shared that he and his representative visited municipal customer care centres in Nigel, Springs, Boksburg, and the Germiston head office in an attempt to resolve the issue.

“We were told in December 2025 that the reconstruction was completed and that we need to pay another R28 000 towards the account, excluding the clearance fees,” he said.

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He further detailed a meeting held on December 3 at the Nigel municipal office. During that meeting, it was agreed that the account would be reconstructed by December 6, but the officials failed to meet the deadline.

Moloko said that there was an old secondary account in the company name, which was also under dispute, and that was discussed on December 3, 2025, for the same property.

According to him, the parties agreed that the account was to be settled; they should pay R2 000, and the balance of the extra charges was to be waived, as the account had been dormant since 2022.

The agreed amount was paid by Moloko, but the interest and additional charges have not yet been fully resolved.

He shared that in December 2025, the disconnection team was contacted by an official and instructed that no further disconnections should take place in the presence of Moloko or his representative.

He added that another official was expected to prepare a memo requesting an interest waiver on the business account so that it could be closed. He was told that the memo required a manager’s approval.

On December 8, Moloko returned to the municipality to follow up. His representative also visited later that day to check the status of the memo.

“In the presence of the representative, the official confirmed she was still waiting for guidance on what needed to be included in the memo.

“She contacted other officials while the representative was at the offices, and she indicated that a draft would be sent,” he said.

Moloko said he left the office believing the matter would be finalised soon. However, he claims he still has no clarity on whether the memo has been prepared or approved.

He said the issues agreed upon on December 3 were not resolved as promised and that the situation has since worsened.

“To our absolute shock, the property was disconnected again on January 30 with a notice of disconnection on January 6 and charges being allocated to the account for disconnection,” he said.

Moloko described the repeated disconnections as unacceptable, particularly since he says municipal staff issued a clear instruction that no further disconnections should occur until the matter was fully resolved.

Currently, the property is vacant after Moloko asked the tenant to leave in preparation for registration at the deeds office. He fears that the lack of electricity leaves the property vulnerable during a time when crime levels are typically higher in this country.

“Electricity disconnections expose the property to serious risk. If any damage occurs because of this, I will have no choice but to take legal action and claim damages from the municipality due to negligence,” he said.

Moloko indicated that some residents in the area are currently experiencing the same issue. He spoke to one of the residents in Sharon Park who experienced a similar situation in 2023, and his matter was only resolved in December 2025 after he took legal action.

The city’s spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, told the publication that the initial account reconstruction was completed on December 9, 2025, and forwarded to the client.

He said that a follow-up engagement was subsequently held between the finance department and the client to reconcile the reconstructed figures.

“During this engagement, certain discrepancies were identified, which required a further review and correction of the reconstruction.”

“The finance department is currently finalising comprehensive responses to the queries raised, which will be formally communicated to the client soon,” said Dlamini.