Moreover, traffic officers could soon be turning up at your home and workplace to help recover some of the estimated R5 billion owed to the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) by residents and businesses in outstanding accounts. Roadblocks will then not only deal with traffic and roadworthy matters but also with getting you to pay any outstanding municipal accounts from lights and water to rates.

That’s if proposals in this regard – now under consideration by ELM – are accepted and implemented, according to ELM spokesperson
Makhosonke Sangweni.

Sangweni has remained tight-lipped on any such initiative but did confirm that ELM was looking into using traffic police to play a role in the cash-strapped municipality’s credit control and management strategy.

“We are looking at a range of additional credit control measures to increase ELM revenue collection and revenue security, and the possibility of using our traffic officers to reach more debtors in various locations and during roadblocks is being looked at,” said Sangweni.

More stringent and innovative credit control measures by ELM to dramatically enhance revenue collection and collection rates are now being demanded by the National Treasury as part of the R6 billion debt relief granted to the municipality for its Eskom debt.

But the focus of ELM’s credit control efforts is now addressing a persistent culture of non-payment for services in Emfuleni over the years – also a factor that concerns the National Treasury, according to documentation in possession of Vaalweekblad.

ELM is not alone in considering using traffic police to bolster revenue collection. The Johannesburg Metro is also reportedly considering using its Metro Police to enhance the collection of outstanding debts.

Enhancing revenue collection by means such as installing smart meters is also a requirement of the National Treasury debt relief programme for ELM.

Vaalweekblad het met bekende plaaslike prokureur, mnr. Henk Scheepers kontak gemaak, om sy opinie uit ‘n regsaspek te kry. Dit is sy antwoord:

“By beide die invordering van uitstaande boetes en agterstallige munisipale rekenings is daar regsprosse wat in terme van bepaalde
wetgewing nagekom moet word.

“Emfuleni gaan hulself net verder blootstel aan eise indien hulle die beoogde metodes van invordering van die gelde wil toepas.

Hulle optrede sal onregmatig wees en dit word sterk aanbeveel dat hulle eers ‘n behoorlik nagevorsde regsopinie bekom alvorens hulle met sodanige optrede wil voortgaan.

In die verlede was daar baie effektief, op die wetlik voorgeskrewe manier, invorderings gedoen teen inwoners en besighede vir uitstaande munisipale gelde.

Dit was egter eensydig en summier deur Emfuleni gestaak weens die feit dat dit polities nadelig was en daardeur het hulle juis self die kultuur van wanbetaling geskep aangesien daar min of geen gevolge was indien rekeninge nie betaal word nie”.