Non-paying schools are next on Tshwane's hit list for debt recovery

The city of Tshwane says it will be targeting schools from next week as part of its services disconnection blitz, and has already sent out a warning to the provincial government.

On Wednesday, the city continued its revenue-collecting campaign of cutting off services under the hashtag #TshwaneYaTima.

The Traffic Safety building, which houses the Hawks and Regional Land Claim offices, were disconnected for owing R2.7m.

“From next week we are going to target schools, and I have informed some of the officials at the Gauteng department of education that they need to talk to all their schools and inform them that we are busy with this campaign. We invite them to make arrangements with us. If they can't afford to pay what they owe they must come and engage and not wait for us to disconnect and engage after,” said the city's spokesperson Selby Bokaba.

He confirmed that there are were hospitals that owed the city.

“As for health facilities, it's something that we are thinking about. It would be inhumane to go out and disconnect a health facility. We understand that people have to undergo operations and procedures, so we are a bit lenient when it come to that. But it does not mean people are exempted from paying; it means that we are opening the door for engagement,” he said.

He said the city had, so far, collected more than R300m from what they are owed.

“We are going after everyone who owes us. We need to appeal to body corporates and tenants of estates and complexes, and government departments and even businesses, where those entities do not own that property but the property is owned by the landlord,” he said.

Bokaba said they had received several complaints from tenants whose landlords had failed to pay the city.

“You find in most instances that the government department pays the landlord but the landlord, in turn, does not pay the city. We have received numerous complaints from tenants at estates informing us that they don't owe the body corporates and that they have paid. But we don't have an account with the tenants, we have an account with the body corporate. We don't have an account with the government department, we have an account with the landlord.

“So it's important for those departments and those residents in these departments [or] estates to engage with their body corporates and their landlords,” Bokaba said.

The Hatfield Gautrain station, after threatening to take the city to court when their services were disconnected for owing R10m, has paid the city, Bokaba confirmed. The payment included an immediate sum of R2m, he said.

Meanwhile, Johannesburg mayor Mpho Phalatse said residents, businesses and government entities owed the city about R38bn in unpaid municipal rates, taxes and levies — which is just more than half of the 2021/22 budget that comes in at over R73bn.

According to the city, the biggest debt belongs to Sandton City with an amount of R158m.

Phalatse, joined by the MMC for safety, councillor David Tembe, the MMC for environment and infrastructure services, councillor Michael Sun, finance MMC councillor Julie Suddaby, as well as officials and personnel from JMPD, City Power and Group Forensic and Investigation Services (GFIS), embarked on the OperationBuya Mthetho campaign to collect revenue in Region E (Sandton and surrounds). 

She said this was to send a strong warning to municipal account holders who ignore pleas to pay their bills on time. 

“When we terminate services today, it should come as no surprise to the account holders, given that we have sent pre-termination notices in one form or another, warning them of their debt and the promise to cut them off. While the city acknowledges that the Covid-19 pandemic and the avoidable July unrest had a dire effect on the finances of businesses and individuals, what we will not accept is municipal account holders who have the means to pay but simply do not do so,” she said.

Tshwane's MMC for finance Peter Sutton said the revenue-collection campaign was going to be the new norm .

“Our aim is to reinstitute the culture of payment for services rendered,” he said.

TimesLIVE