UPDATE: Ekurhuleni metro’s blitzes on non-payers recoup over R8m

The City of Ekurhuleni’s ongoing blitz on defaulters has managed to recoup at least R8.1m from businesses owing the city in municipal services in and around Germiston.

The objective of the operation, which started beginning of January, is to recover the over R22b owed by businesses and households, and then use that money to improve the levels of service delivery in the region.
The metro projects that by the end of March 2023, around R2b will be recouped from the monies owed.

The R8.1m was collected in the past two weeks through electricity disconnection blitzes conducted by a roving team comprising EMPD and officials in the finance and energy departments.

“The operations have seen the team switching off both electricity and restrict water supply to businesses that owe the metro money. Businesses found to have illegally connected to the water supply lines or the electricity grid is also fined in the process.
“We need the money to improve the levels of service delivery in the region. There are projects that must be undertaken but cannot due to the non-availability of funds – mainly through non-payment of services,” explains metro spokesman Zweli Dlamini.

The metro vowed to do everything in its power to recoup all outstanding monies.
“We are happy with the progress made thus far – but do believe that we can do much more. In the meantime, the city appeals to ratepayers who owe the municipality money to make the necessary arrangements to settle their debts and avoid the strict credit control.”

Making inroads
The finance department said it is pleased with the work done by the task team for revenue enhancement in recovering money owed by residents and businesses to the city.

MMC for Finance, Economic Development and ICT, Fanyana Nkosi, said he is delighted to see this move is bearing fruit so quickly because this will enable service delivery to be bolstered, and this will certainly make life better for the residents.

“The city’s operations have largely been hampered by wide-ranging cases of non-payment by those using services provided by the municipality.
“In some cases the services have been accessed via illegal electricity connections. Our officials have been busy finding those culprits, disconnecting them and forcing them to pay up their overdue accounts.”

Also Read: Ekurhuleni metro on mission to recoup debt of more than R29bn