POLL | Are you happy with the City of Tshwane cutting services to high-profile businesses?

The City of Tshwane continues to dominate conversations after it cut services to the offices of several high-profile companies and entities.

The city switched off services to numerous buildings over the past two weeks, including those that house the department of water and sanitation, state-owned  Denel, the department of infrastructure development, the SA Revenue Service (Sars), Gautrain, the Independent Investigative Police Directorate, the State Theatre, The Sheraton Hotel and SA Police Service headquarters.

South Africans have debated the cuts, with many hailing the move and others saying it is a PR stunt that will leave businesses “ruined” and threatens jobs.

A few joked that the city is coming for those who always “hound” them for money.

Sars and the Gautrain dominated the Twitter trends list on Tuesday after the city cut services to the Sars office in Ashlea Gardens and Hatfield Gautrain station.

The city clarified that the Sars office was leased by the revenue service and it is the building's landlord that owes money. Sars spokesperson Anton Fisher told News24 the revenue service would meet the property’s owners to sort out the matter.

“It is a leased property and to date all services have been paid for in full and on time. Sars complies with all its obligations, including payments for buildings it rents from landlords.”

Offices used by SAPS, which leases its building from Mendo Properties, were disconnected for allegedly owing R5.1m. The city later confirmed “the landlord of the police Wachthuis HQ has paid their municipal bill of more R5m in full and sent us proof of payment. Services will be reconnected to the building”.

The Gautrain issued a statement saying its water and electricity bills were up to date and it would approach the courts to interdict the disconnections. 

MMC for finance Peter Sutton said the city expected pushback from some companies which had been disconnected, but fewer than 1% of court challenges against it have so far been successful.