Swipe cards not working at municipality
Swipe electricity cards started experiencing technical errors at the Steve Tshwete Municipality earlier this week - which resulted in the temporary closure of municipal pay points all over town.
“It emerged that the programming on the card was no longer being read by the swipe card readers. The matter was reported to the service provider and a new device to re-programme the cards will be received and tested on Friday, 8 September”, the municipality said in a statement on Thursday morning.
Hundreds of people who were queuing with an account dispute or to pay rates and taxes since Wednesday were turned away the next day at the municipality with the closure of pay points as a means to calm the panic among community members.
The error comes as the Municipal Financial Department migrates to a new system as the financial year comes into effect.
“In the interim, the clients were advised to visit the electrical department to replace the cards which were not working,” the municipality stated.
But Thursday morning came with its own problems, as dozens of workers from the electrical department went on strike, and disrupted services at the admin department for several hours until the police were called in to restore order.
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Several people were queued and at the time of print the strikers were still not cleared from the building.
“The municipality would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to the public as a result of this”.
