Tshwane concerned about customers disputing accounts to avoid paying bills

The City of Tshwane on Tuesday said that it was concerned by a growing trend of customers disputing their accounts to avoid payments.

“We would like to make it clear that a dispute on a service line, such as electricity, does not exempt customers from paying for other municipal services, such as water, sanitation and waste services,” said the City’s Sipho Stuurman.

“It is important that customers continue to honour payments on all services consumed while a dispute is being addressed.”

Stuurman said Tshwane was working to help customers honour their payments.

“The City has established the following options to assist customers who are unable to pay their municipal bills. An affordability committee has been set up to look at applications from customers who are unable to pay their municipal bills.

“The City also offers indigent benefits for those who have no source of income. In addition to the social assistance programme, the City also provides rebates to qualifying pensioners on services rendered by the City.”

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On Monday the MMC for Finance in Tshwane Peter Sutton denied allegations that the City was facing an onslaught of court challenges as it continued disconnecting electricity and water at a number of government departments, businesses, state-owned enterprises and other customers that owed it money.

Sutton said less than 1% of the court challenges brought against the city for disconnecting debtors have been successful so far.

He said that the City had anticipated a pushback and ensured that it has legal teams on standby.

“A lot of people are questioning the facts about court cases, and the perception is being created that all the cases with disconnecting are being challenged in court and we are losing it,” said Sutton.

“That unfortunately is factually incorrect. I can state to you that we have done in the last week over 420 disconnections for businesses as part of this campaign we are launching now to get our credit control actions in line again with our policy and our credit control bylaw.”

“Less than two percent of those cases are being challenged in court and less than one percent of those cases have actually been successful against the city, so it is not true that all the cases are being challenged in court.”

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