Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA has alleged at least 93 debt collection companies appointed by the City of Johannesburg have not been paid for six months, despite collecting half a billion rand for the city.
Party whip Belinda Echeozonjoku said her party has long warned that Joburg is on the brink of collapse — a clear indication being the ever-growing list of unpaid suppliers.“In a meeting held last week between the city group finance department and the debt collectors, the city informed them that despite the R500m they had collected in January and February, they would not be compensated for services rendered,” she said.
The motivation behind the city’s illegal use of Johannesburg metro police department (JMPD) roadblocks as a means of rates and tax collection was now evident, said Echeozonjoku.
Last month, the finance department announced the commencement of a controversial city-led pilot project to issue outstanding municipal rates bills at metro policing roadblocks.These were not the only reports indicating the city’s ailing financial standing, according to the DA.
“Yesterday, reports surfaced that yet another creditor, Afrirent — rendering refuse collection services — has not been paid. Refuse will thus soon go uncollected.”
The DA caucus leader said the nonpayment of suppliers meant that basic service delivery collapses and delayed responses from Joburg Water and other entities have become the norm.
“Among other projects halted, Region E projects halted due to nonpayment are Linbro Park landfill site upgrade and Klipfontein View road rehabilitation.”
The party vowed to uncover the saga and announced the submission of a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) request to know how much revenue, debt collectors collected on behalf of the city between January and June.
“We will also be posing questions to the MMC of finance to ensure transparency. Any questions that do not get a sufficient reply will be met with a PAIA request. Residents of Johannesburg deserve to have a functioning government.”Finance MMC Dada Morero said there was a reason behind the delays, which was communicated to the debt collectors
“As a key step in stabilising the city’s electronic billing system, database maintenance was carried out in February and March and as a result, internal vetting, and confirmation of actual collection on overdue accounts done by the panellists could not be carried out.
“This was further delayed by year-end processes after which internal vetting processes were started and finalised in September. The above-mentioned was continuously communicated to the debt collection companies.
“The City of Johannesburg, like any organisation, ensures it pays its creditors as and when invoices are due — and like any other organisation, the city depends on the collection of rates, taxes and services such as water and electricity, billed monthly,” he said.
Joburg was on a drive to ensure a stable and sustainable city, Morero added.
“The reality is that collections have been under pressure for several years and targets have not been met since 2017. Key interventions have been put into place since February 2023 to address this issue.
“We have seen progress on various collections initiatives, that has resulted in an increase in revenue during the fourth quarter of the 2022/2023 financial year, which is higher than in the previous three quarters, which were controlled by the previous administration.”
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