Polokwane Mayor, Thembi Nkadimeng.
POLOKWANE – The municipality’s debtors book stood at R818,4 million at the end of September, compared to R703,2 million at the same time last year, according to information tabled before Council last Friday.
Read more: Debt to be written off by council
Debt incurred by consumers in Mankweng and other townships form a huge part of the debt owed. In Mankweng, debt levels increased from R250 million to R259 million from March to August this year, a period in which a study was done in terms of debt collection.
Read more: Take advantage of the muni debt relief scheme
Government institutions that owe monies are Education (R5,2 million), Health (R16,9 million) and Public Works (R2,3 million).
Indigents owe R6,3 million, domestic households R219 million and businesses R5,2 million.
The other R3,7 million is owed by churches and other institutions.
Mankweng has two systems of billing: the historical system (non-domestic users) and a flat rate of R292 per month (domestic users only).
Billing for water through estimates was stopped since April this year. Statements to the value of R27,9 million were delivered to 52 businesses in Mankweng during August, after which an amount of R2,4 million was paid.
Debt of around R312 million in Mankweng has already been handed over to debt collectors.
The municipality is charged 12,28%, VAT inclusive, by the debt collectors at a no success, no fee principle on debt older than 90 days.
Collection costs are then passed on to the consumer in line with the municipality’s debt collection policies and by-laws.
Seven debt collection agencies collected R1,6 million in July and R1,1 million in August. An indigent write-off amounting to R38,6 million was done in August 2017 to around 11 000 indigent beneficiaries.
Prepaid meters will be installed at their houses to prevent them from incurring debt as municipal policy only allows a write-off once every three years.
On 1 September a total of 94 652 statements were generated by the municipality, of which 21 719 were estimated due to gates which are closed and other reasons why meters are inaccessible.
Statements can be viewed online as from this month after a simple registration process, aimed at reducing the high influx of customers to the rates hall.
Government accounts, of which R45,5 million were outstanding by end of September, were disconnected. These excluded accounts where only rates and taxes are levied.
A letter was sent to the premier, after which payments received from provincial departments improved.
