“Jonathan” writes:
My mother, Joan Roborg-Söndergaard, an 83-year-old widow and pensioner suffering from dementia, has owned her property since 1960.
The house has been rebuilt for her by myself as an old age home and special care facility. She has a caregiver who lives on site and he and I manage all her affairs, including full household management and financial management of her affairs.
All her municipal accounts are paid by myself and are always 100 per cent up to date. I use the Easy Pay system, so occasionally the Ekurhuleni system doesn’t pick up the payment in time for the next statement, but they always appear and show they are paid by the due date.
On July 23, the council came and disconnected my mother’s electricity at around 1pm. There were no notices delivered at all about this. Neither the seven-day final notice nor the actual disconnection notices were left at the premises.
The caregiver was working in the garden at the time of disconnection. If the council employee who was driving the council Nissan had made any attempt to knock on the gate or call out, he would have heard him.
When he reappeared to reconnect at 6pm, he admitted to me he had been the one to do the disconnection and was arrogant and argumentative.
He claimed to have taken a photo of the notice he left either on the gate or in the post box, yet no picture was shown. The caregiver had checked the post box as he does every day and we also looked around the area, no notice was evident or found, so I believe he is lying. No one can explain where the seven-day final notice is or if it was even delivered.
My electrical box was also damaged by the council during the disconnection. I would appreciate if this can be taken up at the highest level.
The council is performing disconnections under a level three lockdown (illegal per national government) and they performed at least 10 or more disconnections in Benoni yesterday.
The incompetence of it is that ours was illegal and another poor lady in Farrarmere was erroneously disconnected instead of her neighbour. This is gross incompetence.
As a financial professional, my take on my mother’s disconnection is also gross incompetence by the council finance department. I also challenge the council to disclose how many disconnections were performed in Daveyton or Wattville. I guarantee there are many outstanding accounts, but council prefers to abuse the perceived soft and easy targets.
Editor’s note: Ekurhuleni metro spokesperson Themba Gadebe explained that council is permitted to administer disconnections during lockdown for accounts that are in arrears.”Before we disconnect, we run a report on accounts that are in arrears for 30 days or more, where we have issued a notice. If there is no response after 14 days, we issue a disconnection notice.?He added that in instances where the wrong home has been disconnected, residents can notify the council office. We will reconnect and an investigation will follow. Residents who need to make arrangements can visit the municipal offices or send a request to credit.arrangements@ekurhueni.gov.za for arrangements to pay off the arrears in instalments or request an extension.”
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