Tshwane claws back R300m in cut-off operation, Joburg wants debts paid

The City of Tshwane has through its forceful revenue collection campaign clawed back more than R300m owed by businesses and government offices in and around the capital city.

Spokesperson for the city Selby Bokaba said there had been an increase in payments by customers threatened with disconnections and those already disconnected by officials due to unpaid debts.

The in-flow of money for services comes after  the city embarked on an aggressive revenue collection strategy last week, which included naming and shaming some customers on social media.

City officials disconnected water and electricity services to some of the worst debtors.

“As of Tuesday, we have received more than R300m from 600 disconnections we made from government and properties. Some of the monies have not yet reflected. We are happy with the progress made. It’s a pity people only pay when you threaten them.

“We have established an affordability task team which will look at profiles of customers who can’t pay. They will consider applications. We have been humane and understanding. We gave our customers the long road and waited for them to be controlled by their conscience.

“You don’t need the city to be harsh for you to make payment. We had to relook at our strategies because despite final warnings, people were not coming forward to make payments,” said Bokaba.

There have been disputes arising from the disconnections. On Monday, officials from the city cut off the water supply to the Gautrain station at Hatfield, claiming it was owed about R10m.

However, Gautrain spokesperson Kesagee Nayager denied they were in debt and said the entity may resort to obtaining an urgent court interdict to have services restored.

“Gautrain owes us R10m in respect of property rates. One of their buildings, in Centurion, owes us R6m. They last made a payment in March 2020. In total they owe us R16m in services,” said Bokaba.  

Tshwane finance MEC Peter Sutton said less than 1% of court challenges against the city for disconnecting debtors had been successful.

He said the city anticipated there would be a fightback and had legal teams on standby to deal with challenges to the disconnections.

“Less than 2% are challenged in court and less than one has been successful. It’s not true that all the cases are challenged in court,” he said.

The DA-led coalition in the City of Johannesburg is demanding millions owed to it by government and the Gauteng provincial government for municipal services, and may soon terminate services to some of their buildings, reported the Sunday Times.

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