Over 300 000 of the letters had correct property owner information but the property description box and its contents were incorrect.
Responding to questions from the Advertiser, metro spokesman Themba Gadebe said that total 384 228 properties were affected.
He said this was a result of an error when merging data to mail these letters.
As a result of the mistake, new letters with the correct property description and values were prepared and emailed before the end of March 2017.
The Advertiser queried what led to the mistake in the first place.
Gadebe said the process of printing and posting the Section 49 notices is handled by metro service providers for the General Valuation Roll.
“During our engagements with them after the incorrect notices were posted, they indicated that their printing company was given the correct General Valuation Roll file with correct addresses,” said Gadebe.
“They confirmed that the mismatch of addresses to the property details happened when the file was being converted from excel to SQL/PDF. The service provider committed the mistake.”
So how much did reprinting and reposting cost and who was responsible for paying for the mistake?
“It cost a total of R3 350 000 and it was paid for by the service provider.”
We further asked if there will be any repercussions and Gadebe said the metro is still inquiring with its legal department.
