This comes after a shocking announcement by Co-operative Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan during his budget vote speech, where he revealed that the city council had been defrauded out of R200 million in rates and taxes due to collusion and corruption.
Gordhan said city council employees had allegedly been colluding with members of the public to avoid paying water and electricity bills.
As a result, he said, other customers had been receiving inflated bills, as meters were being manipulated.
According to city council spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane, an investigation into council staff involved in fraudulent activities, which led to the arrest of 18 people thus far, was an indication that interventions implemented by the city council were starting to pay off.
“The arrests relate to fraudulent activities, like manipulation of property valuations and rates, tampering with meters and illegal connections of water and electricity,” he said.
Modingoane said the interventions – which included the implementation of institutional review processes, a revenue improvement programme, and the launch of the anti-corruption campaign – had led to the city council receiving an unqualified audit report in the 2012/2013 financial year and improving its billing and cash position.
The city council’s analysis indicated an improvement in controls and systems, but that continuing losses were attributable to individuals committing theft and corruption in the council, he added.
Since 2011, he said, in excess of 300 people had been arrested relating to illegal metering, cable theft, illegal water connections and hijacked buildings.
Modingoane said those arrested included officials from government departments such as development planning, health, Metro police, revenue, City Power and Joburg Water, and were the result of combined efforts between the city council and law enforcement agencies.
The city council was committed to continue collaborating with law enforcement authorities to ensure that those who defraud residents of Joburg were prosecuted, he said.
He added that the city council welcomed Gordhan’s pledge of his department’s support in improving the governance and revenue value chain processes in the city.
The public were encouraged to report irregular incidents on the city council’s anti-corruption hotline on 080 000 2587.
