Billing complaints in Joburg still a problem: office of ombud

Incorrect billing is still one of the biggest issues for Johannesburg residents, says the office of the city's ombud.

TimesLIVE had an interview with advocate Xolani Gila, acting executive manager for complaints and investigations in the office of the ombudsman to talk about the work they do. Gila said despite a decline in the number of complaints they receive around billing issues, it was still top of the list of complaints they are dealing with.

"Several complaints have been around billing. Although we are seeing a decrease in billing queries, they are still top of the list of complaints we received," Gila said.

According to Gila, they are now receiving up to 60% fewer complaints related to billing and this he said was due to recommendations they made to the city after an investigation the office of the ombud initiated on billing issues in the city.

"What prompted us to do the investigation was the influx of complaints we received. We saw that there was a need to get to the bottom of the issue," he said.

Gila said their investigation, among other things, found that contributing to the city’s billing issues was the failure of the municipality's entities to take actual readings instead of relying on estimated readings, even beyond the prescribed period.

"What we have said to the city is that it needs to align itself with the turnaround times as far as readings are concerned. We also established that there are discrepancies from the moment when readings are taken to when they are captured on the system," he said.

Gila said the ombud recommended to the city to test meters to ensure they are not faulty, which caused erroneous billing.

The ombud deals with complaints of alleged maladministration, service delivery and human rights violations lodged against the city.

Gila, however, highlighted that the office of the ombud will act only if the dispute or complaint remains unresolved after the complainant has exhausted all the official channels prescribed by the city.

He said they do not investigate criminal cases or cases that are likely to go to court.

"If you have received a summons, or there is a pending criminal case on the matter, we, unfortunately, don't investigate it. We also don't investigate complaints against councillors or labour-related matters," he said. 

Gila said as the office of the ombud always has to make sure that there is compliance with the constitution.

"I always say there is a connection between lack of service delivery and violation of human rights. If you don’t provide a certain service, you directly or indirectly violate a certain human right," Gila said.

Top three common complaints

• Revenue (billing)
• Valuations
• Development planning

Below are the stats of complaints received for the past three financial years:

• 2019/2020:         640
• 2020/2021:         742
• 2021/2022          900

TimesLIVE

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