The City of Johannesburg was able to avoid such a disaster due to residents that kept their municipal accounts up to date during the Covid-19 national lockdown.
According to a statement released by the City, they were able to stretch the revenue collected prior to the pandemic to continue service delivery with 30 per cent of their staff capacity. It read, “The City battled to ensure that the residents of Johannesburg were supplied with the bare minimum of basic services that included running water, electricity, and waste management.”
The City noted that one of the biggest impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic was the financial uncertainty facing people globally. During this period, the City under-collected revenue by R2.9 billion during levels 4 and 5 of the lockdown. This along with the municipality not being able to pass the 2020/2021 budget on time put various service delivery process across Johannesburg communities at risk. The City had also categorised services such as credit control measures as non-essential and therefore not cutting off water and lights to many households or collecting revenues from them either.
The City has stated that revenue collection is still at a low and they are pleading with members of the public to pay for their services or at least approach the City to enter into a payment arrangement to avoid services being cut off. “A significant amount of the City’s service delivery comes from rates and taxes that the residents of Johannesburg pay to the municipality for services produced and delivered.”
Ratepayers can still use the City of Johannesburg’s Regional Customer Service Centre (CSC) email to attend to any of their municipal needs:
- Waterfall CSC – regionArevenue@joburg.org.za
- Randburg Civic Centre – regionBrevenue@joburg.org.za
- Roodepoort Civic Centre – regionCrevenue@joburg.org.za
- Jabulani Civic Centre – regionDrevenue@joburg.org.za
- Sandton Regional Office – regionErevenue@joburg.org.za
- Thuso House CSC – regionFrevenue@joburg.org.za
- Lenasia Civic CSC – regionGrevenue@joburg.org.za
Those in financial distress are advised to approach the City to enter into a payment arrangement to avoid future penalties. Credit Control Department – creditcontrol@joburg.co.za
