Pretoria - The City of Tshwane is determined to push forward with its credit control campaign in residential areas by disconnecting defaulters despite experiencing aggressive resistance from communities.
The City has included homeowners after initially targeting government departments and businesses whose water and electricity were disconnected due to numerous failed attempts to recoup money owed to the municipality for services.
However, the push to eradicate the culture of non-payment, which negatively affects the City’s revenue collection, has not come without resistance from some disadvantaged communities, where people have prevented artisans from disconnecting them from the grid.
Atteridgeville was one of the first communities to resist disconnections and call on the City to remove officials and metro police sent to disconnect their homes, as many people were still undergoing affordability assessments to be placed on the indigent list.
However, certain account holders have been found guilty of illegally connecting their electricity and water. Subsequently, the City has been carrying out disconnections to these properties as they not only use services for free, but place infrastructure under strain. These people threatened City officials.
Executive mayor Randall Williams strongly condemned intimidation and threats of violence against City employees and contractors who were enforcing credit control actions and removing illegal connections.
“Our credit control teams are deployed across all seven regions of Tshwane to ensure that residents pay their municipal accounts for services rendered. We have, however, noticed unfortunate incidents where City employees and contractors have been met with resistance and threats of violence from some communities. This will not be tolerated, and we intend to bring law enforcement authorities on board to protect our employees and our infrastructure.
“We will not be intimidated or deterred. The City is pushing ahead with its #TshwaneYaTima campaign and we have already disconnected some residential customers. This culture of non-payment for services must come to an end.”
He said last Wednesday two contractors were subjected to threats and intimidation and had insults hurled at them while out to disconnect electricity at a household in Sinoville. The customer’s account was in arrears for about R370 000. The contractors have since opened a case of crimen injuria against the customer at the Sinoville Police Station.
“It is important for residents to note that the City needs revenue to operate optimally and deliver services to residents. In addition to delivering services, the City must honour its commitments to creditors such as Eskom and Rand Water. The residential leg of the #TshwaneYaTima campaign started with suburban customers and will now shift focus to township customers throughout the seven regions of Tshwane who owe the City R7.3bn.”
By the end of June, Mamelodi and Nellmapius customers had the highest debt of more than R2.1bn, followed by Soshanguve customers who owe the City over R1.1 million. Atteridgeville, Lotus Gardens and Saulsville customers have a combined debt of R713m.
The City is encouraging homeowners to contact customer care offices to make payment arrangements to avoid disconnections.
Pretoria News