R500m paid, R16.5bn to go: Tshwane says cutting off debtors is new normal

The City of Tshwane has collected almost R500m in its services disconnection blitz and has warned the Gauteng government its future targets include schools.

Mayor Randall Williams said no debtor would be exempt from an aggressive campaign to recoup R17bn owed to the municipality by government departments, commercial properties, embassies and homeowners.

“This figure includes R1.3bn owed by governments departments and embassies, R4bn owed by businesses within Tshwane and R8bn by residential customers,” said Williams.

Tshwane's mayoral committee member for finance, Peter Sutton, said the revenue-collection campaign is the new normal.

“Our aim is to reinstitute the culture of payment for services rendered,” he said, adding that less than 1% of court challenges against the city's stance have been successful. 

On Thursday, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) headquarters in Hatfield had its services disconnected for owing more than R28m.

Services were later reconnected after payment was made, and other establishments reconnected include the Sheraton Hotel, which owed R23m.

The city has also called on residents of complexes and estates, and businesses leasing their premises, to ensure body corporates and landlords are up to date with their municipal bills and levies to avoid cut-offs.

A tenant in a residential area that was cut off said she was frustrated and traumatised. “I have to charge my phone in the car and at work, it's too much,” said the woman, who did not want to be named.

“I am tired of having to take a cold bath, my child is tired. We can't even cook.”

The woman said she was considering moving but feared ending up with another defaulting landlord.

“I don't think they are going to pay, it's a lot of money,” she said. “I will have to do research to ensure that the next property is making payments. It's a lesson.”

Freddy Lapage, a small-business owner in Pretoria whose Centurion premises had the electricity cut off on Wednesday, said he had no idea the landlord owed money.

“I am going to find out what is happening and take it from there. It’s definitely affecting my business. Now I have to send my people home, they can’t work and they work on a commission basis, so they are going to be losing their income now,” he said.

City Power in Johannesburg said it is owed about R7.2bn, with the biggest category of defaulters being large power users, who owe R2.2bn.

“These include factories, mines, large industries,” said spokesperson Isaac Mangena.

“The second highest is businesses, including the malls, that collectively owe us about R1.7bn. Government accounts owe about R170m and they include school, provincial and national departments within the city.”

Mangena said they will be targeting all regions of Johannesburg in the coming weeks as part of their revenue collection plan. In the meantime, a number of big defaulters were paying up after receiving warning letters, he said.

TimesLIVE