Account payment kiosks on the cards for Ekurhuleni malls
Ekurhuleni residents will soon be able to walk into major malls around the city and pay for their municipal services while doing their shopping, going to the movies or just having coffee with a friend.
Ekurhuleni is revving up its revenue enhancement drive and will soon introduce payment kiosks at local malls and OR Tambo International Airport where residents and travelers will be able to view and pay their municipal accounts.
According to Ekurhuleni’s CFO, Ramasela Ganda, the first batch of 22 kiosks have been procured and will be distributed to malls once internal processes have been completed.
“We want to inculcate in the culture of shopping experience to include the payment of municipal services by introducing a more convenient and modern way to do so.
“We want to turn our malls into one-stop shops – where one can do groceries and even pay for services,” says Ganda.
The kiosks will allow residents to pay with cash or their debit and credit cards.
Ekurhuleni is on course to becoming a digital city in response to the needs of the digital age.
In this regard, kiosks will in future be enabled to provide airtime, allow for the payment of traffic fines and cemetery fees, as well as applying for municipal services.
Ramasela says Ekurhuleni has an obligation to make payment of services convenient and easy, while residents have an obligation to pay for their services.
This revenue enhancement drive is an addition to Ekurhuleni’s reliable and quick online platform to view and pay for municipal accounts.
A simple click on www.e-siyakhokha.co.za has, in the past three years, opened up a world of convenience for residents and businessowners alike.
MMC for Finance, Clr Moses Makwakwa, says the platform brings to an end an era of erroneous cut-offs.
“The service provides confirmation of payments and matches the payment to the statement, thus, ensuring that payments are correctly reflected against ones account.
“Erroneous cut-offs due to incorrect referencing or delays in receiving payment are, therefore, almost completely eliminated,” says Makwakwa.
This, he adds, will reduce the queues in rates offices as it also allows ratepayers to obtain a history of all their statements and payments at the click of a button, lodge queries and disputes, and print or e-mail statements for proof of address.
Makwakwa says ratepayers who bank with either Standard Bank or Nedbank are already able to benefit from this service by adding Ekurhuleni as a bill within MyBills in Standard Bank Internet banking and MyeBills within Nedbank Internet or mobile banking.
“Ratepayers are encouraged to make use of this new and innovative system, which will also soon be available from ABSA and, thereafter, other participating institutions,” says Makwakwa.
The Advertiser asked the Ekurhuleni metro whether this initiative will be implemented at the East Rand Mall, and also, when this procedure will be up and running in Ekurhuleni.
By the time of publication, no response was received. – @IschkeBoksburg
