Cash-strapped councils make people pay

When municipalities are cash-strapped, they overload people's accounts, lobby group Afriforum, alleged on Thursday (3 February 2011).

"City councils abuse the law which allows them to make estimates. When city councils experience cash-flow problems, the easiest solution is to overload people's accounts," read a statement from Afriforum local government spokesperson Cornelius Jansen van Rensburg, reports Sapa via News24.

The group receives complaints daily about faulty municipal service and levy accounts and has helped Tshwane residents sort these problems out.

It was starting a similar assistance programme in Bloemfontein, said Jansen van Rensburg, who believed the problem was national.

Gauteng's ANC-aligned mayors were to meet on Thursday with the billing problems on their agenda.

Debt collection agency blamed

Following vociferous complaints of incorrect billing, disconnections and an inaccessible Jo'burg Connect call centre, Johannesburg mayor Amos Masondo said this week there was "no crisis".

On Thursday a debt collection agency for the City of Johannesburg was reportedly to blame for some the problems.

"We changed IT systems and got a new SMS system. About 100 residents got incorrect accounts. We have sent them SMSs of apology and have now rectified the system," Bernard van Rensburg, director of In-Quest, was quoted as saying in The Star.

Jansen van Rensburg said lack of capacity was cited as the main reason, but their experience showed this wasn't the only cause.

He alleged that councils abused the law which allows for estimates to be given.

He joined the call for an urgent investigation by Local Government Minister Sicelo Shiceka.