MMC owes council over R300 000 in unpaid accounts

The Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA) is calling for an investigation to be launched into account arrears of councillors and MMCs claiming many are in contravention of the Municipal Systems Act.

According to a statement received from IRASA’s national chairperson, Izak Berg, it has been found that 73 councillors within the DA-led coalition in Ekurhuleni have not been formally linked to municipal accounts and that a further 12 are guilty of having accounts in arrears.

“Act 32 of 2000 (12A) clearly states that no councillor may be in arrears to the municipality for rates and service charges for a period longer than three months,” said Berg

“It has come to our attention in an item served in the May council meeting under ethics, that a councillor and MMC as well as a member of the current coalition, Thembani Kalipa of COPE, owes the city an amount of R321 809.51 for his municipal account.”

He said councillor-related arrears currently amount to         R710 690.08.

It is alleged that the MMC of Infrastructure Services, who was appointed in December, has not had his services disconnected nor terminated.

“We have written to the party leadership in parliament informing them of the situation and request that the mayoral committee address this matter with immediate effect and request the MMC to step down.”

He said that requests to debate the matter during the May meeting were declined.

“One has to ask why the members of the council are being protected to the detriment of the residents and ratepayers of the city?” he said.

Phakamile Mbengashe, the spokesperson for Mayor Tania Campbell, stated that during an ordinary council meeting the ethics and integrity committee noted that Kalipa had visited the city’s finance department with regards to his municipal account.

“Multiple disputes about this account had been lodged and has subsequently alerted the department that the metre had been illegally tampered with,” said Mbengashe.

“The matter is being investigated and a report will be submitted to the committee, to determine the actual account arrears as well as the outstanding balance to be paid.”

Mbengashe said upon completion of the investigation, an arrangement to settle arrears above three months will be made.

“The multi-party coalition government remains committed to governing in the interests of the people by adopting best practices in good governance,” he said.

“To this effect, Kalipa does not enjoy any preferential treatment. The necessary credit control measures will be instituted once the dispute has been resolved and the investigation has been concluded.”

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